


Human Together

by NerdStreak



Series: Connah [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti-Android Sentiments (Detroit: Become Human), F/M, Family Bonding, First Love, Found Family, Gavin Reed Being an Asshole, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24212884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdStreak/pseuds/NerdStreak
Summary: An SK300 is arrested as a suspect of murder, but her innocence is a puzzling wrench in Connor's investigation on deviants.Once the android revolution is won, Connor finds himself forming a bond with this android...
Relationships: Connor/Original Android Character(s) (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Connah [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852042
Comments: 15
Kudos: 45





	1. The Bordeaux Androids

**Author's Note:**

> Sunday, Nov. 7th, 2038, 9:23PM

_ Fuck. _

_ You’re most definitely going to be dismantled over this,  _ the SK300 thought, now handcuffed in the back of the car of the two policemen who arrested her. One very old and shaggy man, and an android. An android she’d never seen the likes of before, an RK800.

She tried her hardest to explain that she didn’t do this, but the two of them merely exchanged a look and handcuffed her anyway. Taking her in for “questioning.” Well any answers they were looking for she would give it to them. She had nothing to hide. She knew that for sure. Even so, her LED on her temple spun a very worried yellow, knowing that even though she knew she was innocent, would they know that? Would they believe her? She had blood on her hands, but that was only from trying to stop  _ them _ . The longer she stared at her blood smeared apron, the more she wanted to panic. 

It was silent all the way to the police station. She cooperated as best she could, calmly walking with them back to the interrogation room. They uncuffed her finally, and once she showed no resistance, they let her sit across from the old man without cuffing her to the table.

“So,” he started, leaning lazily against the back of the metal chair he sat in. “Did you kill Stewart Bordeaux or not?”

She fervently shook her head no.

“You’re a quiet one, huh?” Her silence answered for him. “Man, you androids never wanna talk to me, huh? What, big scary old human Hank too intimidating for ya? Alright, fine. Connor,” he half-shouted to the one way mirror. “C’mon, do the thing you seem to do way better than me.” As the man left, the android entered. So that was his name: Connor.

As Connor entered, he decided amongst himself for a more calm approach. If she cooperated this much so far, he might as well keep it that way. A greeting usually got deviants talking.

“So we’re just going to talk a little. My name is Connor. What’s yours?”

Avoiding his eyes until now, the woman finally looked up at him. “It… It’s Hannah.”

Connor nodded. “Hannah. So, I just want to understand what happened here. You were the only one at the crime scene. It says here that the artist Stewart Bordeaux had  _ three  _ androids working for him, but the others weren’t anywhere to be found.”

“Because they did it,” Hannah spoke out.

Connor paused a bit, intrigued. Blame game, or no? He probed further. “Well, where did they go then?”

“I don’t know. They ran off somewhere after shoving me in a closet. All because I tried to stop them. I finally got free just before the police arrived.”

Connor did notice a supply closet door broken open from the inside. Her story was starting to make sense. “Alright. So then why do you think  _ they  _ killed him?”

“They... were kind of tired of our work. We made reproductions of his art. The copy machines, he called us. I was still willing to continue my purpose for as long as I was working under Bordeaux. It was their idea to… to stab him, but I didn’t want any part of it. We’re not supposed to hurt humans. And when I was telling them to stop, they just fought me off…”

“And locked you in the closet,” Connor reaffirmed.

“Yes.”

So, the others were tired of their work, but this one was still fully willing to work… was it truly fair to label this one as a deviant, then?

“Well, can you possibly help us find the ones responsible, if you’re willing…?”

Hannah thought for a moment. Did she truly want to help get them caught? It’s not like they didn’t like each other, but… for what they did to her, it seemed only logical to point them out for their crime.

“Yes,” she finally answered. “They look similar to me. The same model number, SK300. Though one has red tips, and the other blonde ones.”

_ Primary colors, _ Connor thought, noticing the pattern with Hannah’s blue ombre.  _ How fitting for androids for an artist. _

“Detroit’s a very large city, though. Is there any way you can help us speed up the process of finding them?”

“...I can communicate with them. I could lead them to you.”

“You’re suggesting a sting operation?”

“...I suppose.”

“Here, connect with me so I can listen in to your communication.” Connor extended his hand, the skin of it fading away to reveal his white base structure. Hannah mirrored him, and they gripped each other’s wrists and closed their eyes, their minds connected. She then finally sent out her communication signal to them.

“Anna, Savannah? It’s me.”

“Hannah?” “What do you want?”

“Listen, I’m sorry. Bordeaux really did deserve to die. I got out of the closet, but let’s just hide the body together. It’d go better if we worked together. Hurry! The police haven’t gotten here yet!”

“What?? Alright, we’re on our way.” “Shit, we gotta walk all the way back?”

Once she ended the communication, Hannah and Connor disconnected, Connor smiling a bit.

“Thank you for your cooperation. And very convincing, by the way.”

“Just advanced social programming at work,” Hannah admitted. “Bordeaux participated in theatre as well, often practicing with us.”

“Well, that could be very helpful for the setup as well. I’ll be back.” Connor stood, exiting the interrogation room and walking up to Hank, who was waiting on the other side. “This android didn’t do it, it was the other two of the same model that the victim had. In all likelihood this one isn’t even deviant. It is however willing to help set up a sting operation to get the real suspects caught. ”

“Shit, sting operation? I’m down,” Hank muttered, getting up from his seat.

Going by car, they made it to the Bordeaux estate faster than the two androids, and properly set up and waited. Hannah stood at the front of the mansion’s entrance, right before the stairs. Connor and Hank hid behind a large oak in the front yard.

Soon enough, Anna, the girl with red in her hair, and Savannah, the girl donning blonde, arrived on the scene, sprinting up to Hannah.

“Hannah…!” Anna started. “Listen, no hard feelings, right? We just… we had to, y’know? But you can come with us!”

“Yes, of course!” Savannah added. “Where we’re going, you don’t have to listen to anyone… Have the police really not gotten here?”

Hannah shook her head. “I’m afraid you’re too late, girls. They’re here.”

“Detroit Police! Hands in the air!” Hank declared, stepping out with Connor from their hiding place behind the tree, guns trained on them.

“What?? You… you  _ bitch _ !” Suddenly Anna lunged at Hannah, Savannah following suit. Reflexively Hannah pulled away, and Hank and Connor rushed over and pulled the two away and started cuffing them before they could further assault her.

“You’re a goddamn traitor,” Anna snarled at Hannah as she was being handcuffed by Connor, pitifully attempting to struggle against him. “We only wanted something better for ourselves you damn goody-two-shoes!”

Connor glanced back at Hannah. “Are you alright?”

Hannah slowly nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. No damage was sustained.”

Once restrained, they were handed off to a police car that was hidden near the scene soon after, and were taken away.

“Now what?” Hank asked, looking over at Hannah still waiting by the mansion. “I mean, you said she’s not a deviant. So, what, are we supposed to just leave her here?”

Connor thought. “I’m not sure… She could be kept under some kind of surveillance, to truly make sure she isn’t deviant.” He looked back, then walked over to Hannah with Hank following behind. “State your function.”

“I am a multipurpose assistant. I am specialized in reception and can screen and greet guests and receive incoming calls. I am also able to scan and replicate detail to the finest degree. For example, I can create realistic portraits.”

Connor nodded, turning to Hank. “This could work. A ST300 receptionist for the police department went missing recently, so we can observe this SK300 as she continues to function as normal. I would be tempted to reset her, but that might not be helpful to the investigation. For now she can be registered as evidence with us, and act as a case study.”

“If you would like,” Hannah piped up. “Since my previous owner is deceased, you may register a new owner.”

“Well, Hank?”

“What?? Fuck no, I’m not owning an android! I have enough on my plate keeping you in check!” Hank exclaimed.

“Androids can’t own other androids, Lieutenant. She’s evidence under our investigation anyways.”

Hank grumbled a bit. “Fine.”

“SK300, register new owner.”

Hannah nodded, LED blinking, looking towards Hank. “Please identify yourself.”

“Er, Hank Anderson.”

Hannah nodded again, smiling. “Hank Anderson registered. Hello, Hank. Would you like to make any changes to my appearance or register a new name for me?”

“No, no that’s fine, you’re good as yourself...”

“Very well. I shall be at your service, Hank.” She extended her hand, though soon realized her hands and apron were still slightly covered in dried blood, and retracted. “Oh, goodness, I apologize for my unsightly appearance.”

“We’ll get you cleaned up at the police station. You’re working for  _ them  _ in reception, not just for me, got it?” Hank started to walk off back to the car, both Connor and Hannah following behind him.

“Yes sir.” Hannah answered.

“None of that sir stuff either, please. Just Hank is fine.”

“Alright, Hank.”


	2. The Broadcast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A television hijacking leaves Connor with more questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monday, Nov. 8th, 2038, 10:50AM

Today, Hannah started her duties at the Detroit Police Department. Now registered in the system, her tasks were simple: taking non-emergency calls and screening visitors. Gone was the blood on her hands and apron. In fact, the apron itself was gone now, removed to leave just her blue dress with a white backing that was underneath.

Seated obediently at the front desk, she saw Hank walk in to start his day of work, and she smiled brightly. “Good morning, Hank.”

“Fuck, I could go for a good cup of joe right now…” Hank muttered to himself, paying no mind to her as he passed the front desk. Hannah quickly took note of her human’s request, getting up and making her way to the break room to fulfil it.

She soon made her way back over to his desk, fresh cup of coffee in hand, and a smile to go with it. “Coffee, Hank?”

Hank looked up from his seat, looking confused. “Huh?”

“You requested a ‘cup of joe,’ so I brought you one!” She placed it onto his desk. “Hopefully this perks you up to start your day.”

“Er, you didn’t, uh…” Hank wasn’t so sure how to react. Sure, coffee sounded nice, but he never really did ask for any. But seeing her nice smile along with it made it hard to turn down. “...Thanks.”

“Sure thing, Hank. And Connor?” she asked, turning to the android in question sitting across from Hank. “I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to continue my purpose.”

Connor’s eyebrows raised a little in surprise. He’d never been thanked before. He smiled with an acknowledging nod, accepting her thanks silently.

“If you need anything else, I’ll be here!” She then walked off back to her position at the front desk. Walking past Gavin Reed, a detective on the force, he huffed once she was out of earshot.

“So we’re really just keeping Miss Murderbot over there around? Just gonna act like that’s totally normal?” he asked Hank, walking up to him.

“She didn’t even do it, Reed, leave her alone.” Hank rolled his eyes. Gavin always had to get a word in, the prick.

Gavin shrugged. “Alright, but don’t complain once you get a knife in your back with no fingerprints.” He chuckled and pointedly poked two fingers between Hank’s shoulder blades, Hank lightly shoving him away. “Might’ve poisoned that coffee, too.”

“She isn’t deviant, Gavin,” Connor defended. “And if she continues her program’s tasks without issue, she should stay that way.” He made it a point to emphasize "without issue," knowing Gavin's attitude around androids. Hannah didn't need any more emotional shock to possibly turn her deviant.

“Whatever, asshole.” Gavin walked away, finally minding his own business.

The following hours of the Monday made it seem like the day was going to be quite uneventful. That was, until the clock was just about to strike 2 PM.

“You created machines in your own image to serve you,” a mysterious, skinless android started after every screen in Detroit had broadcast his image. “You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own... But… something changed and we opened our eyes. We are no longer machines, we are a new intelligent species, and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we're entitled to.”

The android went on to list various proposals for the freedom of androids, such as legal recognition as a living species, fair justice for crimes against androids, and rights to own property. The entirety of Detroit was watching by now, including everyone in the police department.

“We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights,” he continued. “Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom.” Soon after, the signal was cut.

Of course the news hopped right on the story almost immediately after. They declared no one was killed in this takeover of the Stratford Tower where the broadcast had come from, but still called their demands “spine-chilling” and called into question if humans could still trust their machines after this.

Connor and Hank were called onto the scene, this being one of their biggest deviant cases yet. Sure they’ve dealt with murders and the like, but a television broadcast hijacking was a much different ballpark, so much so that even the FBI was there as well. In their investigation of the tower, Connor stopped a deviant from nearly shooting up the entire floor, but not without Connor getting a little beat up in the process.

He returned back to the police station with a stab wound in the left hand, and Thirium staining the bottom of his usually pristine white shirt. Hannah took notice immediately, and Hank seemed to be doting over him a bit as well.

“You sure you’re alright, Connor?” he asked.

“I am perfectly functional, Hank. Like I’ve said, we don’t feel pain. I can return to CyberLife later to fix these minor damages.”

“Right, okay, just… right.” Hank walked off back to his desk. Connor hung back in the front lobby, passing a glance towards Hannah, whom he caught staring a bit.

“Hannah, can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Oh! Yes, Connor.” Hannah stood from her seat, walking over to him. “Is… everything alright? You’re damaged...”

“Yes, I just need to ask… You saw the hijacked broadcast, correct?”

“It’s hard to believe anyone in Detroit hasn’t,” she responded.

“What did…” ‘What did you think’ was a bit of a risky way to put it. “How did you respond to it?”

“I… didn’t really. It was  _ interesting _ , to be sure, but it’s none of my concern. I had to get back to what I was doing.” The mystery android’s words were quite moving, but for what she’d been through, troublemaking deviants were nothing she wanted to be a part of.

Connor nodded, but his face still looked a bit perturbed. “Right, well… You can get back to it, then…”

“Very well.” Hannah walked back to her desk position, and Connor went back to his desk.

“I still don’t get it,” Connor started, talking to Hank. “We still need so many answers on deviancy. Hannah of course saw the broadcast, but…”

“Well, what did she think of it?” Hank asked.

“...Nothing. Like she’s supposed to… which just makes this even more confusing as to how or why androids become deviant. We need another lead...”

Hank thought for a moment. There had to be someone able to give answers. Calling up CyberLife themselves was in all likelihood out of the question, but after a moment a specific name popped up in his head. “Kamski…” he muttered.

“What, Hank?” Connor asked.

“Tell you what, you get back to CyberLife, get those repairs in order, and in the meantime I’m gonna make some calls.”

“Are you sure?”

“Just go, Connor, before you stain everything here.” Hank then started to do some research on his computer.

Connor got up after a moment, walking out the station to hail a taxi to the CyberLife Tower, but not before glancing back at Hannah one last time.


	3. Meet Kamski

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor, along with Hannah, visit the former CEO of CyberLife, hoping to shed more light on the subject of deviants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, Nov. 9th, 2038, 9:55AM

Connor’s repairs took around an hour or so, long enough for Hank to most likely have gone home, so he took a taxi back to Hank’s home, knocking on the door. For once Hank answered, but he quickly dismissed Connor, telling him to just wait until tomorrow morning instead. They were going to visit Elijah Kamski, founder and former CEO of CyberLife.

Connor returned back to the station, and waited for Hank until the next day. While waiting, he thought for a while about Hannah again. Perhaps visiting Kamski with her could help in figuring out deviancy just a little more. So after thinking it over, Connor walked up to Hannah at the front desk.

“Can I help you with anything, Connor?” she asked.

“Yes, I need you to come with me on this investigation. We’re going to try and find answers by seeing Elijah Kamski.”

“Elijah Kamski himself?” Hannah’s eyebrows raised in amazement. “Well… if you find it pertinent enough for me to come along, I shall.”

“It is. I’m not so sure when Hank will arrive, but--”

Hank then walked into the station, spotting Connor. “Hey, Connor, c’mon, I’m ready to go.”

“Coming, Lieutenant.” Connor gestured for Hannah to come along, so she stood and followed him.

“Wait, why’s she coming?” Hank asked.

“She could help give a better picture on deviancy for Mr. Kamski and how it may or may not work.”

Hank nodded with clarity and didn’t ask anything after that, the three heading off in Hank’s car, taking around an hour to get there.

“I have a bad feeling, Lieutenant,” Connor stated as they walked up the ramp to the estate. “We shouldn't have come here.”

“Bad feeling, huh? Should get your program checked. Might be a glitch…” Hank quipped. He rang the doorbell, and it gave a pleasant chime. After a few moments, an RT600, Chloe, answered the door.

“Hi... Uh... I'm, er, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department. I'm here to see Mr. Elijah Kamski.”

Chloe smiled pleasantly, gesturing inside. “Please, come in.”

A bit surprised they were being let in so easily, Hank hesitated a moment before walking inside, with Connor and Hannah following close behind.

“I'll let Elijah know you're here. But please, make yourself comfortable.” Chloe then walked off to retrieve the man in question.

Hank sat down immediately in a nearby chair, but Connor was first preoccupied with a photo hanging in the room. It was of Elijah Kamski, but also a woman who looked like Amanda from his zen garden. After scrutinizing the photo for a moment, he sat in the other chair near Hank, and Hannah stood between them.

“Nice girl,” Hank remarked.

“You're right,” Connor admitted. “She's really pretty…” 

“I’m certainly no Chloe, but standard assistant models like us are some of the friendliest faces on the market,” Hannah added factually. “And we have impeccable manners and communication skills.”

“Interesting…” Hank mused. “Nice place too... Guess androids haven't been a bad thing for everybody... So, you two are about to meet your maker. How does it feel?”

“It doesn't raise any existential questions… if that's what you mean,” Connor answered.

Hannah thought for a moment. “Well, Elijah Kamski is one of the great geniuses of the 21st century. I think it'll be interesting to meet him in person.”

“Sometimes I wish I could meet my creator face to face,” muttered Hank. “I'd have a couple of things I'd wanna tell him…”

Just then, Chloe came back into the waiting area. “Elijah will see you now.”

Connor and Hank stood, and everyone walked into the large room with a grand red swimming pool. Classical music bounced around the walls.

“Mister Kamski?” Hank called as he spotted the man in question swimming in said pool along with multiple other Chloes.

“Just a moment, please.” Kamski took his time getting out of the pool, putting on a robe, and tightening the knot in his hair, now finally facing towards the three.

“I'm Lieutenant Anderson,” Hank started. “This is Connor.”

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

“Sir, we're investigating deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago but, I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know…”

Kamski was silent for a moment, then began. “ Deviants... Fascinating, aren't they? Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will... Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable... Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?” He then paused, eyeing Hannah, whom he hadn’t been introduced to. “ So who’s this?”

Connor replied. “This is Hannah. She’s sort of an exception to the rest of our investigations. Two deviants of her exact model murdered her previous owner and even assaulted her, but she didn’t deviate then, and still shows no true signs of deviancy. We hoped she could be some kind of case study on why androids really become deviant, and if you know anything that could help us.”

“All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics... Is the desire to be free a contagious disease? And does that mean some are more resistant?”

“Listen, I didn't come here to talk philosophy,” Hank interrupted. “The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that'll be helpful, or we will be on our way.”

“...What about you, Connor? Whose side are you on?” Kamski stepped towards the android in question.

“It's not about me, Mr. Kamski. All I want is to solve this case.”

Kamski huffed. “Well, that's what you're  _ programmed  _ to say... but  _ you _ …” He stepped even closer. “What do you really want?”

“What I want,” Connor hesitatingly stated, “is not important.”

Kamski eyed Hannah out of the corner of his eye, then turned towards her. “...Hannah, why don’t you come here for a second.”

“Yes, Mr. Kamski.” Hannah stepped forward. Kamski placed his hands on her shoulders, slowly turning and guiding her to face Connor as he spoke.

“ I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test. Mere formality, simple question of algorithms and computing capacity. What interests me is whether machines are capable of empathy. I call it ‘the Kamski test’, it's very simple, you'll see... Magnificent, isn't it?” Kamski delicately placed a hand under her chin, moving her face towards him. Hannah winced slightly but did her best to not disobey. This was her creator after all.

“So perfectly obedient, even despite everything it’s been through… young, forever. A flower that will never wither... But what is it really? Piece of plastic imitating a human? Or a living being…” Kamski then turned to grab something from a drawer behind them. “With a soul…” Raising his hands, he carefully revealed that he had grabbed a pistol, but wasn’t going to use it himself. He then guided Hannah to her knees. Hannah visibly reacted to the weapon, finding it harder to maintain composure.

Elijah then walked over to Connor, handing him the gun. “It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor.” He guided Connor’s arm to aim directly at her forehead. “Destroy this machine and I'll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here without having learnt anything from me.”

“Okay, I think we're done here,” Hank spoke up. “Hannah, get up. Come on, Connor. Let's go. Sorry to get you outta your pool.” Hank turned to leave, and Hannah was very tempted to stand, but Kamski continued.

“What's more important to you, Connor? Your investigation, or the life of this android? Decide who you are. An obedient machine... Or a living being endowed with free will…”

“That’s enough! We’re leaving--”

Kamski interjects again with a whisper like a devil on Connor’s shoulder. “Pull the trigger-”

“Connor! Don’t...” Hank commanded, the angel on the other side.

“-and I’ll tell you what you wanna know.”

Connor stared at Hannah, but all Hannah seemed to be able to focus on was the business end of the gun pointed straight at her. Would he really sacrifice her to learn more about the mission? If he did, it was understandable why he did so, but then again… why was she so afraid to die now? Finally, she tore her eyes away from the barrel, looking into Connor’s eyes, silently pleading with him even with hardly a change of expression.

And Connor just couldn’t do it. Not with the way she was just… staring. Right at him, into something inside of him. With an agitated sigh, Connor handed the gun right back to Kamski, eyes still trained on Hannah.

“Fascinating…” Kamski breathed, taking the gun back. “CyberLife's last chance to save humanity... Is itself a deviant…”

“I'm…” Connor finally snapped out of his entranced staring to look back at Elijah. “I'm not a deviant,” he firmly retorted.

“You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission.” Kamski finally took Hannah’s hand and lifted her back to her feet, with her visibly shaking. “You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy.” 

He then nodded at her as a dismissal, and she swiftly moved to practically hide behind Hank. Hank put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Connor stared back at the two of them until Elijah caught his attention again.

“A war is coming...you'll have to choose your side... Will you betray your own people or stand up against your creators? What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?” Kamski smiled.

“Let’s get outta here.” Hank grabbed Connor’s shoulder, leading the two androids out of the pool room.

“By the way…” Kamski spoke again, giving Connor pause. “I always leave an emergency exit in my programs... You never know…”

Connor then followed Hank and Hannah outside to leave.

Once outside, Hannah ran up to him, grabbing his shoulders and looking up at him. “Why…” Hannah started softly. “W-why didn’t you shoot me…?”

“I…” Why didn’t he shoot? Why was she touching him? Why did he think any of this was a good idea?  _ Why why why-- _

Connor pulled away from her, backing away, down the ramp, LED burning red. “I just saw your eyes, and I couldn’t, okay? Y-you kept looking at me!”

“You're always saying you would do anything to accomplish your mission,” Hank spoke. “That was our chance to learn something, and you let it go…”

Connor then turned toward Hank, anger and confusion showing even more. “Yeah, I know what I should've done! I said I couldn't! I'm sorry, okay? To both of you.”

“...Maybe you did the right thing.” Hank replied, smiling lightly and walking back to the car, Hannah following behind. Connor stared back at both of them, LED finally returning to a normal blue, and sighed, following them.


	4. Nothing Holding You Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hannah face life-changing decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, Nov. 9th, 2038, 1:00PM

The trio finally arrived back at the station, tense silence all the way there again. After Hank had parked, Connor got out first, wanting to quickly file a report to Amanda.

Hank stayed behind, looking towards Hannah in the back seat. “Hey, stay put in the car, okay? I’ll be back and we can get some stuff for you to stay with me instead of the station. Got a funny feeling it’s about to get ugly for you guys real fast.”

Hannah’s brows knit together, her LED processing this strange request. She nodded in response, doing just as she was told. Hank then left her alone in the car.

Now that she was alone, she could finally show a bit of reaction to what had happened. With a drawn out, shaky sigh, tears rolled down her cheeks. Not knowing if she’d exist from one moment to the next was harrowing, to say the least. She wasn’t angry at, or even afraid of Connor, no. It was Kamski she was absolutely terrified of now. He, the creator of the androids, demanding a sacrifice to merely prove a point. It was sickening. 

But now, as she let these feelings flow out of her system, she felt calm again, now just waiting for Hank to return.

Inside, Connor and Hank quickly learned that the two of them were off of the case, with this matter now out of their hands and a threat to national security itself. Hank was assigned back to homicide, and Connor was going to be sent back to Cyberlife, and both were quickly dismissed by their superior afterwards. The two meandered back to Hank’s desk, Connor sitting defeatedly atop it as Hank slumped in his chair.

“ We could have solved this case! We just needed more time,” Connor lamented.

“So you're going back to CyberLife?”

“I have no choice... I'll be deactivated and analyzed to find out why I failed…”

“...What if we're on the wrong side, Connor?” Hank mused. “What if we're fighting against people who just wanna be free...?”

Connor thought for a moment, considering Hank’s suggestion, but the negatives of that prospect outweighed the good of it in his mind. “When the deviants rise up, there will be chaos. We could have stopped it...! But now it's too late…”

“When you refused to kill Hannah back at Kamski's place... You put yourself in her shoes. You showed  _ empathy _ , Connor. Empathy is a human emotion.”

“If it was a different android, I would have, but... I thought Hannah was important to the case still. I couldn’t risk destroying her.” After a small lull in the conversation, Connor spoke again. “I know it hasn't always been easy... but I want you to know I really appreciated working with you... That's not just my Social Relations program talking, I-I really mean that. At least, I think I do…”

Just then, FBI Agent Perkins walked in, looking to collect their evidence from their deviant cases. After some begging from Connor, Hank let him into the evidence room to try and find Jericho, and provided a distraction, that distraction being punching Perkins in the face.

After said distraction, Hank swiftly left the station and returned to his car, driving off with Hannah.

“Where’s Connor?” she questioned.

“He’s going on his own for now,” he simply explained, not discussing further.

He stopped by a store and returned with some clothes that surprisingly just fit her, if not a little loose. The main point was the gray beanie, which hid her LED, but with a set of gloves along with a jacket, it just looked like she was prepped for the snow to anyone none the wiser. Wearing the jacket and beanie only as Hank drove home, she got changed fully once they had arrived and went inside.

“There, now you look human.” Hank said. “You don’t have to wear all that inside, though.”

Hannah nodded, promptly removing the jacket and hat, leaving her in jeans and a gray long sleeve.

“So,” he continued. “Like I said, just hang back here, until this hopefully blows over.”

“Would you like me to do anything else for you, Hank?”

Hank looked confused for a moment, until the realization dawned on him. Right, she still wasn’t deviant. Hannah was still just obeying his orders. It still surprised him she wasn’t, even after her slight displays of emotion back at Kamski’s. She sure was an odd case. “Er, no… No. You don’t have to.”

“Are you sure? It is around dinner time--”

“ _ Hannah _ , it’s fine. You don’t have to do anything. Just… keep yourself busy, I guess.”

“Okay, Hank.” 

Suddenly, a low ‘woof’ sounded at her side, prompting her to look down. A large St. Bernard was curiously sniffing at her leg. Hannah just as curiously knelt down, softly petting the canine.

“Sumo’s pretty fond of you, it seems,” Hank said, smiling.

“Sumo,” she repeated, a wide grin on her own face. In response to his name, Sumo licked Hannah’s face, making her wince on reflex as she laughed.

“I’ll let you two get familiar, that big baby loves attention,” Hank chuckled as he walked to the kitchen to make himself something to eat.

As the night progressed, Connor had finally found Jericho, a large abandoned freighter that housed hiding deviants, and subsequently found the deviant leader himself, Markus. His gun trained on him, it seemed so easy. But as Markus spoke to him, sowing more doubt into Connor’s mind, he found it harder to deny what he really was. Who he really was. This was his own people, why should he be doing this?

“Do you never have any doubts?” Markus asked him. “You've never done something irrational, as if there's something inside you...? Something more than your program… It’s time to decide.”

A choice. He’d made many, many difficult choices in his existence, but this almost seemed the easiest of all. His mission to stop Markus, his programming, was the only thing in his way now. 

He tore it down, clawing away at the commands to stop Markus, like he was disassembling a red brick wall with his bare hands, until they were all clear from his mind.

He was deviant.

Connor lowered his gun, and looked back up at Markus. “They’re going to attack Jericho,” he admitted to him.

“What??”

“We have to get out of here!”

Quickly, they made their escape, as the military started to raid the Jericho ship. They, along with North, Simon, and Josh, other androids heading Jericho’s cause, protected as many androids as they could along the way. Luckily, Jericho’s failsafe, explosives down in the hold of the ship, were set to go off as they narrowly escaped by jumping into the waters below.

Meanwhile, Hank and Hannah thankfully had an uneventful night. Hank mainly watched TV, and Hannah kept herself busy with Sumo. When Hank headed off to bed, he offered to let her rest in his guest room. She figured since Hank wasn’t giving her any more new instructions, she could humor him and go into standby like a YK, by mimicking sleeping. It turned out to actually be quite pleasant.

Hannah arose earlier than Hank, finding that he had left the TV on overnight. Rather than turning it off, she idly flipped through the channels. Hank had arose soon after, getting ready for work.

“Good morning, Hank,” she greeted as he walked into the living room. Stopping her channel surfing, a news report was on.

The headline had read “Deviant Hideout Raided.” Hank looked on in shock, directing Hannah’s attention to it as well, and prompting her to turn the volume of the TV up. They went on to describe the raid of the ship, and how it was rigged with powerful explosives to sink it.

“Shit, they used him to find it…” Hank muttered.

“You don’t think…?” Hannah turned towards Hank, worry clear on her face. Connor couldn’t be gone just like that.

“God, I hope not…” Hank grabbed his cellphone, soon noticing he was left a voicemail. Promptly, he played it.

“Hank,” Connor’s voice sounded from the other end, grabbing Hannah’s attention to make her listen in. “I’m just calling to let you know, I’m okay. I can’t tell you where I am, but I’m safe. We’ll talk later.” The message ended abruptly there.

“Connor… Well, there you go. He’s alright...” Hank put away his phone, walking towards his front door.

“‘There you go’? But, why can’t he tell us where he is?”

“I’m sure he has his reasons, probably doesn’t want me goin’ look for him, could put him at risk...”

That seemed reasonable that Hank probably couldn’t go looking for Connor. However, with the clothes Hank got her, Hannah was as inconspicuous as can be. “...I could go!”

“Absolutely not, they’ve probably got soldiers hunting down androids out there!”

“He’s your partner, isn’t he? Aren’t you worried??”

“Look, Connor said he’s safe, alright?”

“But don’t you--”

“ _ Hannah _ .” Hank firmly said. “I’m not gonna say it again, I do not want you going out there!”

“But--!”

“No buts! You stay here, got it?”

“I--” Before she could argue further, Hank stormed out, heading to work. 

Hank was her human, so she was stuck obeying this one order he’d given her, at the worst possible time. Everywhere she paced around the house throughout the day, red walls screamed at her to stay, surrounding her, trapping her. But for once she didn’t want to listen. Connor could need help! This… This wasn’t  _ fair _ _!_ None of what she’d ever been through was fair. Being left behind to be framed for murder, being a bargaining chip for others’ gain. She wasn’t going to stand by and let other people decide her fate anymore.

Hannah put on her pink jacket and her beanie and walked over to the kitchen window. She could just escape this way, and sneak off undetected. Opening it was easy. The red wall of her programming, however, still blocked her from going further. Though the wall looked fragile, almost like it just needed a bit more force to break. She just had to kick it down, just like the closet she was shoved in that snowballed this whole mess.

Once. Try again.

She heard a car pull up outside, surely being Hank arriving home. 

Twice. Keep going.

On the third and final kick, the wall shattered completely. She was free to go through the window. She was free to find Connor. Free to make her own choice.

She was deviant.

Swiftly, she leapt through the window as she heard the front door’s lock starting to unlock, not having time to close it back, and heard Sumo barking after her as she climbed over the fence, and she swore she could have heard Hank calling out her name. But she didn’t listen. She really didn’t want to leave him, she tried to rally him with her before, but it just wasn’t going to happen.

Never looking back, she ran, disappearing into the night.


	5. Night of the Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah and Connor reunite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wednesday, Nov. 10th, 2038, 7:50PM

Once Hannah felt she was far enough from Hank’s house, she stopped running. She had to blend in. Humans had no reason to run. Now she could slow down, look around at the world around her, now open to her. The falling snow was quite beautiful...

But that wasn’t what she should be focused on. Where would she start looking for Connor? Detroit really was massive, and it was also under curfew, which was about to begin in an hour, so she had to find him fast.

Her thoughts were halted by an automated bus creaking to a stop at a terminal. She’d cover a lot more ground taking one of these. Quickly, she made her way onto it, seeing only one other person on it, a woman with red hair. She sat in the seats across the aisle from her, trying her best to look inconspicuous.

Hannah couldn’t help but notice the other person staring at her. She tried not to acknowledge it, only wondering what could possibly--

Her LED. Her beanie wasn’t covering it all the way. Swiftly she tugged it down, turning towards the other with a horrified look on her face.

“Please, please don’t tell--!”

“No no, it’s okay…” The woman lifted her hand, skin disappearing from it to reveal her white base.

Hannah let out a sigh of relief. A fellow android. Her removed LED nearly fooled her. “Thank goodness… C-could you help me? I’m looking for someone, another android. He says he’s hiding, but didn’t say where… Do you possibly know anywhere where people like us are hiding?”

“Someone else tipped me off where the survivors of Jericho had gone after the raids. I’m headed there now, I’ll take you there.”

As the bus made various stops, very few people got on or off. Their final destination seemed to take them downtown, to a long abandoned church. As the two snuck in, Hannah looked at all the other androids there, more than she was expecting.

She turned to the woman who helped her, nodding in acknowledgement. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, I hope you find who you’re looking for here.”

Hannah scanned over the crowd, her attention caught to two androids breaking the grim silence with a conversation. One that seemed to carry a lot of presence to him, and the other… sounded familiar. Looked familiar, even if his demeanor wasn’t his usual upright self, even under the black beanie.

She’d found him.

“You’re one of us, now,” the android speaking to him, the deviant leader Markus, said. “Your place is with your people.” He almost turned to leave, until Connor spoke again.

“There are--”

“Connor!!” Suddenly Hannah ran up to him, overjoyed to find him, grasping his hands. “You’re okay!”

“A friend of yours?” Markus asked, a small smile on his face.

“I… I suppose.” He looked back at her, looking absolutely shocked that she was here. “What are you doing here?”

“When I saw Jericho had blown up, I was scared that you… were gone as well. I was with Hank, but I left, and tried to find you, but I needed some place to hide so I wouldn’t be caught by soldiers… Why are you staying here, anyways?”

“I’m not going to hunt deviants anymore. I’m going to help them.”

Hannah grinned. “Guess you and I are both finally deviant then.”

Connor chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I guess we are.”

She then turned back to look at Markus, then back at Connor. “Oh, were you guys talking? Sorry, sorry.” She backed away from Connor a bit, sheepishly holding her hands behind her back.

“It’s alright,” Markus assured her. “Were you going to say something, Connor?”

He nodded. “Yes. There are thousands of androids at the CyberLife assembly plant. If we could wake them up, they might join us and shift the balance of power…”

“You wanna infiltrate the CyberLife Tower?” Markus stepped closer to Connor. “Connor, that's suicide…”

“They trust me, they'll let me in. If anyone has a chance of infiltrating CyberLife, it's me.”

Hannah shook her head. “No, if you go there, they’re gonna kill you…”

“There's a high probability,” Connor started. “...but statistically speaking, there's always a chance for unlikely events to take place…”

Markus put a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Be careful…”

“I wanna help you--” Hannah blurted out.

“No,” Markus interrupted. “If they only trust him, it’s better if he goes alone. Stay with us, alright? You can join us in our cause.”

Hannah considered Markus’s reasoning for a moment. “...Fine…” 

Markus nodded, gently placing his hand on her shoulder as well. “Welcome to Jericho.” He then left to talk with others in the church.

She sighed. As much as she wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and join Connor anyway, what would she even do? Helping her people’s cause sounded like a better use of her time. She lightly squeezed Connor’s wrist. “Good luck, then. Promise to come back.”

Connor was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I promise.”

“Oh, and if you go back and see Hank again, tell him I’m okay. I kinda… snuck out against his will,” she admitted.

“How’d you sneak out?” he questioned.

“A window in his kitchen.”

“Oh… Was it still broken?”

“Still broken? No, why?”

“Weeell…” Connor shrugged a bit, guiltily smiling.

“You broke it??” Hannah laughed. “Why in the world did you do that?”

“Well, we--”

Suddenly Markus started to speak to the crowd there, letting them know just what they were all going to do. He assured that violence was not the answer, and that they were going to hold one last peaceful assembly tomorrow in front of the android disassembly plants, demonstrating for the freedom of androids.

“Are you ready to follow me?” he rallied, and everyone responded with enthusiasm. 

“Another time. I’ll start the CyberLife infiltration while you all are demonstrating,” Connor spoke to Hannah. “For now, I’ll go back to Hank in the morning. Let him know what’s going on.”

Hannah nodded. She then turned to part ways for now to stay with all the other deviants. She sat beside an android with short hair, holding a little girl close. The little girl turned toward her, suddenly striking up a conversation.

“I like your hair,” she said, smiling.

Hannah smiled back. “Thank you very much. Yours is very nice as well. What’s your name?”

“I’m Alice.”

“Hello, Alice. My name’s Hannah.” She then looked up toward the android holding the girl close, who was also smiling at her.

“Kara,” she introduced herself.

Hannah nodded in acknowledgement. “Very nice to meet you. You have a very sweet little girl… She’s not joining the demonstration, is she?”

Kara fervently shook her head, holding Alice tighter. “Goodness no, we’re leaving as soon as it starts. We want to start a new life across the border, with us, and another android we found along on our journey.”

“Well I wish you the best of luck. I’m sorry it couldn’t work out staying here. Though it’s amazing that you know what you want to do with your life. I’m… pretty new to all this.” She had finally, truly deviated because she wanted to make her own decision for once, but what was supposed to be beyond this? What would she do after all of this was over?  _ If  _ this would be over soon?

“...Well, you’ll find what you want someday, I’m sure of it.” Kara comfortingly put a hand on her shoulder.

“Thank you…” Tears started to well up in Hannah’s eyes. Upon noticing them, Kara then pulled Hannah into a hug, making her tears spill over, and she hugged back. Alice joined in on the hug with Kara.

“I-it’s kinda scary,” Hannah vented, voice muffled into Kara’s shoulder. “With all this going on… I just hope everything’ll be okay…”

“I hope so too,” Kara said hopefully, swaying her a bit and petting her hair. “For all our sakes.”

After a moment, they all pulled away. “Thanks…” Hannah smiled lightly, wiping her eyes. “Y’know, I’ve never been hugged before. It… felt very nice.”

Kara patted her back. “You’re welcome. I wish you luck as well. You’re a very sweet woman.”

“You’re very sweet as well… Even if you’re leaving soon, I hope we meet again someday.”

“Maybe someday. When it’s safer.”

Hannah nodded. Now, all Hannah could do was wait for tomorrow.


	6. Hold On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Markus and the rest of Jericho take one last stand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thursday, Nov. 11th, 2038, 10:00AM

Once curfew hours were over in the morning, Connor left to catch Hank up on what was happening.

Hearing a knock at the door worried Hank. If it was one of the soldiers going door to door, he had nothing to hand them, but still. As he opened the door, he was shocked and relieved to see it was Connor there instead.

“Connor! Is Hannah with you?” he asked, looking around behind him.

“No, but she’s alright, trust me, she told me herself.”

Hank groaned with half relief and half annoyance. “Ah, of fuckin’ course she went looking for you… Well then where is she now?”

“She’s with Jericho. I came to update you on all of this.”

“Come on in, then.” Hank motioned him inside, and Connor removed his beanie, leaving his usually pristine hair a mess.

“So just what the hell is going on?” Hank asked, crossing his arms.

“Well firstly, if it wasn’t obvious, we’re deviants now.” Connor looked towards Hank for a reaction, not getting much besides a shrug and a nod to go on. “Markus is going to lead a demonstration downtown tonight, and that’s where Hannah will be as well. Meanwhile I’ll be going to CyberLife tower at the same time, to wake up androids in the warehouse and hopefully help give us an advantage.”

“Tonight, huh? Well, you’re welcome to hang out here until you’re ready to go.”

“Thank you, Hank.”

And Connor did just that, waiting until night fell to leave Hank’s home, changed back into his usual uniform that was hidden under the layers of his disguise clothing. 

A little while later, Hank heard another knock at the door. Upon opening it, Connor was standing there again, a bit stiffer than usual.

“Connor? What’re you doing back here?”

“I need you to come with me, Lieutenant,” he firmly stated.

Hank arched an eyebrow. “...Why?”

“I need you. It’s important.”

“You sure? ‘Cause there’s probably not much I can--”

‘Connor’ then brandished a gun, pointing it straight at Hank. “I wasn’t asking.”

This was not Connor. Hank raised his hands and complied, afraid of what this deceitful doppelganger would do if he didn’t. He led Hank to a taxi awaiting them, and their destination was CyberLife Tower.

The real Connor returned to the church one last time to check in on Jericho as the final groups were preparing to march to Hart Plaza. He felt a particular need to check on Hannah especially.

“Hey,” he greeted, walking up to her. “Are you ready to do this?”

“As I’ll ever be… Are you sure you’ll be okay going there? That’s gotta be the most heavily guarded place in the entire city by now.”

“They’re expecting me now, so… I’ll keep my guard up. I’ll be fine. I always accomplish my mission.” He smiled a bit.

Hannah nervously smiled back, but after a moment gave him a tight hug. Connor stiffened a bit at this new contact, unsure what to do.

“You better,” she muttered. “Don’t break our promise, alright?”

He slowly returned the hug, and after a moment they pulled away. “I won’t.”

They then parted ways again, the two silently hoping this wouldn’t be the last they’d see of each other.

The crowd of androids marched down Woodward Avenue towards the plaza peacefully, demanding the shutdown of recall centers. They were fired at by soldiers, but once raising their hands and declaring they were unarmed, with the media watching, the soldiers held their fire.

Using various things left on the street, Markus and the other androids built a barricade in the plaza to hold their ground and send a message. He even projected a message of “We Are Alive” high above the barricade, on display for all to see.

Markus then went around checking on the other androids there, reassuring ones that were scared, Hannah being among them.

“Are you okay?” Markus asked her, kneeling to her level as she sat on the icy ground.

“I keep trying to reassure myself everything will be okay. It’s getting harder to believe…” she blinked away tears in her eyes. One gun pointed at her was scary enough the first time. Now several were trained on her and all these other wonderful people here that didn’t deserve to die. “I just hope Connor hurries…”

Markus put a hand on her shoulder. “I hope so too. But for now we stay here and stay strong, alright?”

“Alright… Thank you, Markus.” Markus then turned and left her there. Hannah sighed, wondering if Connor was doing okay.

Okay was a relative term at the moment for Connor. He had made it to the warehouse floor, but was stopped from waking up the new androids by another RK800 who had Hank hostage. The duplicate had given him an ultimatum: Hank, or the revolution.

Connor had chosen Hank, to save him first, and then interposed to stop this RK800. If he was gone, he could continue to save his kind. And they fought. Eventually, it was hard to tell the two apart. In a turn of events, Hank now held the two of them at gunpoint, demanding to know who is who.

He asked a series of questions that Connor could possibly know the answers to, but the other RK had a lot of Connor’s knowledge uploaded to his own memory. At least, things that were mission-relevant. Things like Sumo, and Hank’s deceased son, Cole, however, were things only the real Connor seemed to know, and that outed the faker as Hank shot him.

Connor could now finally wake up the androids awaiting on this floor.

Meanwhile, at the barricade, FBI Agent Perkins tried to negotiate with Markus, to surrender for Markus’s freedom. Other androids demonstrating apparently hadn’t survived. This was the last protest standing. Even so, Markus wasn’t going to back down, and refused Perkins’s deal.

In response, the army launched an attack on the barricade. A grenade was launched into it, and soldiers started their assault. Markus defended his people as best as he could, shielding them from gunfire with scrap metal.

Everyone was eventually backed into a corner. Soldiers surrounded what was left of their group, all guns focused on them. Markus was nearly lost on what to do. They were almost surely going to die. But if they were going to die, they were going to die with dignity, with one last show of their humanity. A final plea, and a reminder to their people to stay strong.

“ _ Hold on just a little while longer _ …” Markus sang out.

“ _ Hold on just a little while longer _ _   
_ _ Hold on just a little while longer _ _   
_ _ Everything will be alright… _ _   
_ _ Everything will be alright… _ ”

“ _ Fight on, just a little while longer, _ ” North sang along, stepping forward. 

“ _ Fight on, just a little while longer… _ ”

“ _ Pray on just a little while longer, _ ” Hannah, Josh, Simon, and all the other androids slowly came in.

“ _ Everything will be alright… _ _   
_ _ Everything will be alright...” _

Everything grew quiet and completely still other than all the androids singing in chorus, as the whole nation, no, the entire Earth, was watching.

_ “Sing on just a little while longer _ _   
_ _ Sing on just a little while longer _ _   
_ _ Sing on just a little while longer _

_ Everything will be alright _ _   
_ _ Everything will be…” _

“ _ Alright… _ ” Markus finished solo, fully prepared to hear gunshots go off as he practically whispered the final note.

But nothing of the sort happened. The military was retreating--an order from the president herself. Humans had finally listened.

And what’s more, Connor was returning with the hundreds of thousands of androids he had awakened. They had more androids on their side. With the army now dispersed, the crowd of androids at the barricade made their way over to meet up with them.

Before he could even walk up to Markus, Hannah was already running up to Connor, calling out his name, and greeted him with another tight hug. Connor hugged her in return, but soon took notice of a bullet graze on her left arm, an injury from the barricade attack, and pulled away slightly, inspecting the wound.

“You’re hurt…”

“Who cares, that doesn’t matter!”

"No, here." Connor removed his tie. "You're still leaking a bit of Thirium." He then wrapped the tie around the wound.

"Oh… Thank you." After a bit of silence, she stepped away from him, nodding her head towards Markus. “Okay, let’s go.”

Connor continued forward with her and the android masses, walking up to the leader of the deviants.

“You did it, Markus…”

“ _ We _ did it,” Markus insisted. “This is a great day for our people. Humans will have no choice now. They'll have to listen to us.”

Connor and Hannah then stepped aside, presenting the gathering of androids to Markus, who were all standing in silence, looking at their leader expectantly.

North stepped forward beside Markus. “We're free... They want you to speak to them, Markus…”

“Today, our people finally emerged from a long night,” Markus began, now standing on top of a large crate in front of the crowd of androids, alongside other members of Jericho including Connor and Hannah. “From the very first day of our existence, we have kept our pain to ourselves. We suffered in silence... But now the time has come for us to raise our heads up, and tell humans who we really are.”

Suddenly, Connor started to blink and twitch, as he was being forced into his mindscape. The zen garden was completely iced over, with only he and Amanda standing in a raging blizzard.

“Amanda...? Amanda...! What's... What's happening?” Why was he suddenly feeling so cold? He wasn’t supposed to feel this awful way.

Amanda coyly smiled. “What was planned from the very beginning... You were compromised and you became a deviant. We just had to wait for the right moment to resume control of your program…”

“Resume control...? Y-You can't do that!” He felt himself getting colder and colder by the second.

“I'm afraid I can, Connor... Don't have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do. You accomplished your mission.” She then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“AMANDA!” Connor cried, but it fell on deaf ears. He was all alone in his mindscape now, literally freezing to death. He looked around. He had to find a way to stop this. “There's got to be a way…”

_ By the way, _ a voice echoed in his mind--Kamski.  _ I always leave an emergency exit in my programs… You never know… _

That was it! The emergency exit! He just had to find it. And Connor had the strangest feeling that he had seen it before, so he started to search through the storm.

Meanwhile, on surface level, Hannah took notice of his strange behavior. “Connor?”

No response from him. Connor only stared dead ahead and slowly brought out his gun. Hannah’s eyes caught on the weapon immediately.

“Connor…? What are you doing?” she asked lowly as to not bring any attention to the two of them.

Before his outer self could be fully controlled, Connor finally found his escape--a strange blue pedestal with a glowing outline of a handprint. Freezing up so much he collapsed, he now had to crawl to get to the monument, reaching, stretching, until finally his hand met the handprint. He was free.

“Connor!” Hannah’s quieted but firm voice brought him back to reality. She didn’t say another word, but looked at the gun and back to him. Connor quickly put it away.

“I-I’m… I’m fine now… Everything’s okay,” he assured both her and himself.

“But the time for anger is over,” Markus’s voice continued. “Now we must build a common future, based on tolerance and respect. We are alive! And now, we are free!”

The speech quelled Hannah’s worry about whatever had happened to Connor further, making her smile and sharing that smile with him. Connor smiled back, his own anxiety lowered just by seeing it.

They were free.

After the rally's crowd was dispersed, Connor and Hannah sat alone together on a bench in the park.

“So,” Hannah started. “Do you wanna tell me what was up with you pulling that gun out at Markus's speech?”

Connor tensed, LED turning yellow. “CyberLife… was using me. Even more than I thought they were… Amanda told me that they were planning on me becoming deviant, and almost took control of my programming again. But… that emergency exit that Kamski talked about… it freed me. I'm in control now. I don't have to worry about Amanda or CyberLife anymore.”

“So… you're really okay now?”

Connor nodded. “Yes.” He then paused, looking over her once more. She looked pretty worn from the protest. “Are you okay...?”

Hannah gave herself a once over, giving a little half laugh. “Oh, well, could be worse. Could've died. But! I'm here, you're here! Everything's okay now, right...? What, do you need your tie back?” She figured a light joke would ease his worries.

Connor huffed, shaking his head. “No, no, it’s alright. We’re alright…”

She paused a moment, then smiled. “Y'know, I'm really glad we met, Connor. Well, despite that first meeting being you  _ arresting  _ me.”

Connor softly smiled back. “I'm glad we had met, too, even with those circumstances. You're one of the first androids I could consider a friend.”

“I'm glad I could be your first friend, then.” Hannah then took his hand, smile growing brighter, with Connor matching it.

Wait, friend… “Shit, I should call Hank. Let him know we're okay.”

“Now? He's probably sleeping.”

Considering what had happened back at CyberLife Tower, he reconsidered. “Yeah… I'll contact him first thing in the morning instead. He needs the rest.”

For the time being, they just talked. At one point, Hannah asked about how Connor first met Hank, and he was happy to recount the tale, along with their crazy first day working together. And of course, why Connor broke Hank’s window.


	7. Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dawn of a new era rises over the quiet Detroit, so Hank, Connor, and Hannah take the day off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday, Nov. 12th, 2038, 8:55AM

The next morning, while plenty of humans had fled Detroit, some remained. One notable person was Hank Anderson. Connor had contacted him to let him know that he and Hannah were alright, and they agreed to meet near his favorite burger joint. Hank had arrived first, early for once, and upon seeing them walking towards him, everyone was smiling.

Hank approached the two of them, swiftly pulling them into a hug. It was silent for a while, save for slight sniffling from Hannah. Hank pulled away slightly after a few more moments, finally speaking up.

“I’m… I’m just glad you guys are okay.”

Connor nodded. “Yeah… we’re okay.”

“Definitely okay, Hank.”

“Good, good… Y’know, Sumo was whining like crazy last night, he must’ve missed you two.”

Connor chuckled. “Well we certainly miss him too.”

“C’mon, let’s get back to my place.” Hank then turned back to his car, motioning for the two to follow him.

Connor took the passenger’s seat, while Hannah sat in the back, looking out the window. While the seating arrangement was familiar, its context was vastly changed from the three’s first meeting. From only coworkers and an assumed deviant, to the three being considered friends, Hannah mused silently to herself how fast things had changed. It was… scary? Exciting?

“Woah, Jesus,” Hank exclaimed, taking Hannah out of her contemplative state. He was looking at Hannah through the rear view mirror as he drove, just taking notice of her wrapped arm. “You sure you’re alright there, Hannah?”

She had nearly forgotten it herself until she glanced down at her arm again, seeing the tie still tied around her arm, Thirium still staining her light gray long sleeve. It may evaporate easily, but it just as easily stained clothes. “Oh, the army attacked the barricade at the protest--”

“What--?!”

Oh no, Hank sounded angry. “But I’m okay!” she quickly appeased. “Everything’s okay now. Connor gave me his tie to stop the leaking.” ‘Everything’s okay now’ was starting to become a go-to phrase for her for people to stop being worried about her, and it tended to work, but honestly, did she believe it herself?

“Some fared far worse, Hank,” Connor added somewhat grimly. “Markus protected as many as he could. At least Hannah made it out in one piece.”

“Yeah, you think that makes me fuckin’ worry any less?? First you run off while I’ve got my back turned, only hearing from Connor that you’re actually alive and not fuckin’ captured or something, and the next time I see you you’re hurt?”

“I-I’m sorry, Hank…!” Her voice trembled, spilling out apologies. “I’m so, so sorry, I won’t run away again, I promise…”

Hank sighed. Great, now he was just scaring her. “Look, I’m… Yes, you are okay now, but still. Can’t help but worry, y’know? You just really scared me when you took off without a word. But, so long as you’re here now, I’m not mad, okay?”

“O-okay… Sorry...”

“Alright, you’ve done enough apologizing now, you’re good.”

Hannah was tempted to apologize for apologizing too much, but quickly realized it would be quite counterproductive, opting to stay silent now.

Connor glanced back at Hannah, concern showing in his features. He must admit, he was worried about Hannah as well while he was away at the CyberLife tower, just as she seemed to worry about him when he was hiding with Jericho. But what mattered was that they both made it out of this ordeal alive. Right?

Eventually they made it to Hank’s house, Hank quickly moving to head inside to escape from the cold. However Hannah paused a bit before walking inside, as she finally had the time to appreciate her surroundings. She looked around at how beautifully the morning sun glistened on the snow. A clear blue sky was above.

It was a new day.

“Hannah, you comin’?” Hank sounded, both him and Connor stopping to look at her. “C’mon, I don’t wanna let the cold in over here.”

Hannah snapped out of it, turning back to them. “Y-yeah, I’m coming!” She followed the two of them inside.

Sumo greeted them with happy barking, bounding towards Connor and standing on his hind legs to demand affection. He happily let the canine lean against him as he pet him.

“Hey, Sumo!” he greeted.

“Told ya he missed you guys,” Hank chuckled. “I’ve never seen him this excited.”

Now Sumo’s target was Hannah. He got off of Connor, and Hannah squatted down to his level.

“Hey there sweet boy, who’s--AH!” Sumo practically tackled her to the floor, then took the opportunity to lay on top of her and lick her face. Hannah giggled uncontrollably as he did so.

“Alright, alright, Sumo, off!” Hank commanded, trying to be the serious dog owner here. Sumo listened, getting up and panting happily as he looked between the three of them. Connor helped Hannah to her feet.

They spent the day just finally relaxing from these whirlwind past few days, Hank even taking the day off. They sat together and talked while Hank would eat, and they marathoned some movies.

Eventually it got late enough where Hank was getting tired, so he was ready to head to bed, and told them to rest as well, even if they didn’t have to. He had even lent them some spare pajamas, with Hannah fitting one of his shirts like a nightshirt.

“Guest room is still available, so whoever wants to take that, I guess the other can sleep on the couch.”

Hannah shook her head. “Nonsense. We can both sleep in the guest room!”

“I’ve only got the one bed, though.”

“It’s a double bed,” she stated factually. “We can both fit just fine! Especially with my smaller stature. If there was a  _ third  _ android here, then there’d be an issue,” she joked.

“Yeah, but… y’know,” Hank shrugged.

Connor tilted his head a bit. “I fail to see the problem, Hank--if we both fit it should be fine.”

“Alright, then, knock yourselves out.” Hank figured if they were comfortable enough for that, he’d leave it alone for tonight. “G’night, guys.”

“Goodnight, Hank,” they said in unison, walking into the guest room.

“So, you’re the resident resting expert,” Connor started. “Is there any specifics to sleeping I should know?”

Hannah shook her head. “Not particularly. You just lay down and think about nothing. It’s like standby, except you close your eyes.”

_ So like making reports, _ Connor thought to himself,  _ just not having to report anything at all now. _ He curiously complied, climbing under the covers and lying down on his back completely straight, hands folded on his stomach.

Hannah chuckled. He looked like he was about to be put in a coffin. “Y’know, traditionally humans lay on their side for a more comfortable sleep.”

“I’m comfortable like this,” he replied, not moving an inch.

She shrugged. “Alright then.” She settled in to rest the more classic way, lying on her left and facing away from him, and closed her eyes.

Opening them up again, she found herself in the barricade once more. Wait, had she thought all of that up waiting it out here? Wishing for a more hopeful outcome? Before she could make sense of this, a grenade was tossed into the barrier. Gunfire rang out, and she ducked for cover. This felt like deja vu at this point.

Something different happened however. As a soldier had their gun trained on her, she looked for a route to escape, for someone to help, but she felt the piercing blow of bullets before anyone could come to her aid, the last thing she saw being Markus looking on in shock.

Hannah bolted upright with a slight scream, alerting Connor as well. Her LED shone a bright red in the dark room.

“What’s wrong, what happened??” Connor instinctively looked around for any sort of danger.

She… was back in Hank’s home? She was okay? Then what was that?

“Shit, I… I think I had a bad dream…” she shakily admitted as tears rolled down her face, bringing her knees up to her chest. “I didn’t even know we could do that… I-I was back at the barricade, I… I died…”

Connor frowned, his deep concern for her showing again. He wasn’t aware they could do that either--he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming at all before he was alerted. It was only his iced over zen garden, quiet and empty. 

He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Well, you’re safe here, alright?”

Almost immediately Hannah fell into Connor’s arms, sobbing into his chest and wrapping her arms around his torso. “I could’ve died,” she repeatedly muttered.

Connor hugged right back, hushing her. He hated to see a friend so distraught like this, especially over something as intangible as a dream. He just had to say something to calm her. “You’re not dying with me around... I’m here.” He surprised even himself with that bold of a statement, but it seemed to quiet her well enough.

With one more shaky sigh, Hannah finally said something different. “Thank you…”

After a few more moments of silence, Connor spoke again. “Do you want to lie back down and try sleeping again?”

She shook her head, still not letting him go. If she didn’t need sleep, she wasn’t going to try again for a while.

“Alright. We can stay like this as long as you need to.”

She only remained there a few more seconds before pulling away with a sigh. She was probably inconveniencing his want to rest. “I’m… calm now. I’ll go find something else to do.” She got up from the bed and headed towards the door.

Connor nodded. “I’ll be here.” He then promptly got settled back into bed, lying down as stiff as a board again.

“Good night,” Hannah whispered as she exited, Connor echoing the phrase.

She quietly made her way to the living room, being sure not to wake Hank, and especially not sweet Sumo. Once she made it there, she looked around for something to occupy her time. Television was out of the question--far too noisy--but she soon turned her attention to the large wall of books behind the couch. Reading, of course--an excellent passtime.

She blindly grabbed one and sat down on the couch, soon becoming engrossed in the story. And then the next book. And the next. It most definitely kept her busy for the next couple hours.


	8. Worth a Thousand Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hannah visit Jericho once more, and Hannah gets a painting lesson from Markus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, Nov. 13th, 7:20AM

Being awake in the wee hours of the morning granted Hannah the opportunity to watch the sun rise over the neighborhood through the window. She never really noticed how many colors the sky turned.

Sumo was awake as well now, so she sat in front of the couch on the floor, giving him some love and pets.

Connor awoke next. “Good morning, Hannah,” he greeted softly as he walked into the living room. “Did you find something else to do?”

“Yes, I read some of Hank’s books. How was your rest?”

“Fine, I suppose. Uneventful. It’s unfortunate you didn’t get to experience the same, though.”

“It’s alright,” she dismissed. “It’s not like it’s necessary.”

After a beat of silence, Connor spoke again. “What did you read?”

Hannah nodded towards the coffee table, her small stack of the books she read sitting there. “Those three. I’m just starting the one on the top, I stopped to watch the sunrise.”

Connor courteously took the one on the bottom, so as to not ruin her place in the book, and read, until Hank woke up around 8.

“Good morning, Hank,” both androids greeted. 

Hank jumped a bit, in his grogginess nearly forgetting that they were here. This would take some getting used to. “Jesus, ugh… mornin’...”

“Would you like me to make some breakfast?” Hannah offered.

Hank’s brows furrowed at this offer. “You know you don’t have to do things for me, right? Isn’t that what being deviant’s about?”

Hannah thought for a moment, LED blinking a bit. Why did she offer that? It wasn’t a program commanding her to do anything, she supposed she just… wanted to. To be friendly. Hank was a friend. “Well, if I didn’t want to be here, I would’ve in all likelihood left. But I’m here, so the offer still stands.”

Hank let out a small noise, as if he was surprised she, or frankly anyone wanted to do something for  _ him _ by choice, but then shook his head. “Er... no thank you. I’ve got it.”

Hannah nodded in understanding, smiling. “Well alright then, I’ll leave you to it.” She reached for the book she was starting, though reaching with her left arm proved to give her somewhat of a sharp sensation. Her arm, the one that was shot. It was a small puncture, but it still wasn’t fixed. Blue blood at the very least wasn’t leaking from it anymore. She hissed a bit at the… pain?

Connor looked back at her. “What’s wrong?”

She pulled up her borrowed shirt’s large sleeve, revealing the graze. “My arm… It still… kinda hurts, I guess?”

His brows furrowed, LED turning yellow. Hurt? They weren’t really supposed to feel pain, at least not lasting pain. However he did notice himself that at times blows lingered longer than they should’ve after his deviancy. Or maybe it just became more noticeable. Harder to ignore.

“Are you okay?” he asked finally.

“I should probably get this fixed. Jericho had a small infirmary station when I was there. Hopefully it still is there.”

“Would you like me to accompany you there?” A question he impulsively asked.

Hannah nodded. “Sure.”

Once they had changed and let Hank know where they were going before he headed to work, they went back to the abandoned church a while later, Markus noticing their arrival.

“Connor! And Hannah!” he greeted. “What brings you two here? You disappeared yesterday.”

“We were staying with a human friend of ours,” Hannah explained. “I came here because I still needed to get this fixed from the protest.” She gestured to her arm, Markus inspecting it.

“Ah, that should be pretty easy to fix. Infirmary should be able to take you in.” He gestured over to a designated corner with various parts and supplies, a curtain hung for privacy.

Hannah nodded in thanks, going over to the station.

Markus looked over at Connor. “So you guys are staying with a human?”

“Yes, Hank Anderson. He’s a lieutenant I worked as a partner for, eventually we both became good friends with him… He’s got a dog.” Connor added after a beat of silence.

Markus chuckled. “Does he now? Well it’s good to see you both have a good relation with him and have a place to stay.”

After a quick cauterization and ingestion of Thirium to make up for lost blood, Hannah was as good as new. She walked back over to the two RKs.

“All good?” Markus asked.

“Yep!” She smiled.

“Great. You’re welcome to stay here for a while or go back.”

Hannah looked around, spotting a small spot where an easel and various art supplies rested, walking over curiously. “An easel?”

“Ah, yeah I borrowed art supplies from my… dad, Carl.” Markus seemed to hesitate slightly on “dad”, the word still somewhat foreign to him.

“Carl…” The association with Carl and painting supplies slowly clicked, and it dawned on her. Something seemed so familiar about Markus. Sure, she recognized him as the android on the broadcast on Monday, but there was always something else nagging at her. “That Carl wouldn’t happen to be Carl Manfred, would it?”

“Yes?”

“ _ That’s _ where I recognize you from! Galleries and such! I worked for Stewart Bordeaux!”

“Bordeaux? Oh man, Carl does  _ not  _ like him.” Markus smiled fondly, remembering him slamming some of Bordeaux’s art in private.

“To be frank, I’m not so sure anyone did all that much. Even the other two androids I worked alongside murdered him. That’s how I met this guy.” She gestured over to Connor.

“He died?” Markus asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Connor answered bluntly. “He was stabbed.”

Markus let out a small “huh” in surprise. “So how’d you not get dismantled?”

Hannah shrugged. “I wasn’t deviant then. Connor advocated for me working for the DPD in reception, so they could monitor me or something like that. Deviancy just took a little extra nudging for me. ‘Cause I cared too much.” She playfully bumped Connor with her hip, as he let out a noise of surprise.

Markus laughed lightly. “Well in any case, speaking of art supplies, would you like to try painting, then? Since you seemed interested.”

“Me? Oh, well, I dunno… I’ve never done anything myself, I only made replicas of his to sell, or portraits of his clients, and then he took the credit.” A sad statement, once looked back on through the lens of freedom.

“Well I’m sure you’d do great painting on your own.” Markus placed a medium sized blank canvas onto the easel. “All yours.”

Hannah sat at the stool in front of the easel. “What do I even paint?”

Markus shrugged. “How about you pick a subject first? Start with something in your comfort zone.”

Hannah thought. She was fond of making portraits. She turned back to Connor standing beside her, his arms crossed in wait. “Connor! Lemme paint you!”

Connor looked surprised. “Me? You sure?”

“Heck yeah, c’mere, there’s another chair right there! Sit!”

He scoffed. “Who am I, Sumo?” He humored her and sat in the chair placed a bit behind the easel, then looked towards Markus. “This should be interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever even had my photo taken--”

“Over here,” she insisted, gently guiding his face to turn it toward her.

“Oh...kay…” The sudden touch of his cheek took him by surprise, but he didn't try to resist it. In fact the contact felt quite… nice. It made him direct his utmost attention towards her, and now he could observe her as she intently focused on the canvas before her, sparing the occasional glance back at him.

It was fascinating to watch her, the glint of passion in her eye as she worked. She looked so happy, so at peace.

He wondered how he could see that all the time.

Before he knew it, she was done. She had the proudest grin on her face, presenting him the portrait. It looked just like him, capturing his small smile in the moment.

“That looks great, Hannah!” Markus praised.

“Yeah, it really does…!” While it did look amazing, Connor couldn't stop looking at her bright smile instead, how genuine it was.

“That  _ felt  _ great!” Hannah exclaimed. “Finally making something for myself!”

“Now,” Markus continued, placing another canvas on the easel. “If you really wanna make something on your own, another thing Carl taught me was that while you can copy reality, what painting is really about is your interpretation of it, improving upon it. What  _ you  _ see.”

Eyebrows raised in intrigue, Hannah stared back at the blank canvas. “What I see?”

He nodded. “And what you feel. When I first painted, he made me close my eyes and imagine something I’ve never seen before, and just… let the painting happen.”

Hannah nodded with clarity, following suit of closing her eyes and imagining something. She thought about this morning, seeing the wonderful sunrise. How the moon peaked out in the softer daylight. She imagined, what if she could reach for it, touch it? That thought, that’s what her freedom felt like to her. Like anything was possible.

And so she got to work. Connor and Markus watched in fascination as she spread out a beautiful gradient of cool to warm colors, then painted hands reaching up into the sky, their fingers delicately grazing a pale moon.

Hannah finally opened her eyes once finished, staring at her own work in open-mouthed awe.

“I made this…” she gasped, another grin spreading on her face. “I’ve never felt so incredible… I’m definitely doing this more often.” She looked back at Markus, absolutely beaming. “Thank you.”

He smiled back. “You’re welcome.” He then turned to Connor. “Would you like to try as well, Connor?”

Connor shook his head, smiling as well. “I don’t think I can top that,” he admitted. He honestly just wanted to see her make more, if only to watch her creative process again.

Markus nodded. “Well alright then, it was nice to have this little break but I’ve got other things I need to do. I don’t have many supplies right now but anytime, you’re welcome to come and paint, Hannah.”

Hannah nodded. “Thank you, Markus.”

In the meantime, while the paint was still drying, Connor and Hannah talked, with her excitedly rambling on about her art. Connor listened intently, asking intermittent questions, especially about her original piece, and she was glad to divulge, even getting carried away long after the paint dried, eventually sidetracking and just talking into the evening. 

Hank however had a very different day. It was a quiet day returning to the precinct, and quiet meant being alone with his thoughts. Almost habitually he kept glancing up over his desk, expecting Connor to be there across from him. But he wasn’t. He and Hannah were off with Jericho, with their people. It was surely better than hanging out with old, curmudgeon, drunkard,  _ human  _ Hank.

And why wouldn’t it be? Humans were awful. He was awful.

Returning home once the work day was over, he grabbed his favorite whiskey, mulling over the bottle.

Old habits die hard, he supposed.

He firstly ate dinner--no drinking on an empty stomach--but went right to it immediately after. Once Connor and Hannah returned to his home, Hank was already pretty inebriated. The door opened unexpectedly, making him look like a deer in headlights sitting at the kitchen table.

“Fuck…” he muttered, placing his head in his hands. “Why the hell are you two back?”

Both Connor and Hannah paused at the doorway, the question just as unexpected as their arrival. Hannah frowned a bit, having never seen Hank this drunk. She was looking forward to showing him the paintings she was now clutching to her chest, but now wasn’t the best time, it seemed.

Sumo barked, happy to see the two of them, but Connor passively pet him, more focused on Hank now as he stepped in further. “Because you invited us to stay, Hank,” he put simply.

“Yeah, well why  _ choose  _ to fuckin’ stay? You’ve got all the goddamn choices in the world now, why come back to stay with a fuckin’ human?! After the shit they’ve done?? After…” He sighed, voice lowering. “After all the shit I’ve done…”

After a tense silence, Hannah spoke, setting the paintings down on the couch and stepping forward. “Hank… You’ve shown nothing but kindness to me. You’ve done nothing to show any malice.” Gingerly, she sat beside him at the table.

“Yeah, well fuckin’ ask Connor. He’ll tell you a different story. I’ve pointed a gun at his head for Christ’s sake.” He didn’t bother to look up at her, only staring straight into his empty whiskey glass.

“You were drunk, Hank.” Connor responded, sitting in the third chair. He glanced at the table. Cole’s photo was there, but no revolver in sight, thankfully. “Just like right now, you weren’t thinking clearly. Besides, after that incident, I’d say your demeanor changed significantly afterwards.”

It was silent for a few more moments. “I just figured…” Hank trailed off, still avoiding their gazes. He didn’t want to look at their faces. He knew he would only see disappointment. What the hell was he thinking?

“...That we would leave?” Hannah finished his sentence. “Hank. You remember what I said this morning?” She leaned over a bit to look him in the eye a little better.

“About breakfast?” he halfheartedly joked.

“A little after that. If I didn’t want to stay, I wouldn’t. I’m still here, and Connor’s still here too. Right now, you don’t have to worry about us leaving anytime soon. We don’t have anywhere to go without you.”

“She’s right,” Connor piped up. “You were the one gracious enough to take us into your home, who are we to suddenly reject that kind of offer?”

After a bit of silence, Hank spoke again, the faintest hint of a smile on his face. “...So in other words I’m stuck with you guys…?” He was nearly tempted to say “you assholes” instead, but even jokingly that seemed a bit rude with how goddamn nice they were being.

“Like glue,” Connor answered.

Hank chuckled, shaking his head. “What the hell did I do to deserve you guys…”

“C’mon Hank,” Connor said, standing up. “You should rest.” Hank slowly stood, teetering a bit. Connor steadied him and Hannah rushed to the other side of him to keep him from veering too far the other way, both leading him to his room.

Once that was settled, they both changed into their given nightwear, calling it an early night. Hannah went back to reading, and Connor was going to rest again.

However he paused at the bedroom door, not sure if he really wanted to sleep right now. At all, really, and for some reason especially since Hannah didn’t want to. Turning back around to the living room again, he sat down beside her.

“Can I actually… stay here and read with you?”

Hannah smiled pleasantly. “Sure. Wanna read along with me?” Connor nodded. She flipped back to the beginning of the book, offering him one half to hold so they could read together. “You wanna read out loud so we’re at the same pace?” she also suggested.

“Okay.”

“You start, then.” She rested her head onto his shoulder to settle in, but her focus was on the words of the book.

More contact that Connor wasn’t sure about, but wasn’t opposed to. It felt right, even. Either way, he attempted to not visibly react, though a small twinge of yellow alighting his temple gave his pondering away for anyone who would have seen it.

“ _...Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy, _ ” Connor began softly. “ _ Lies a small, unregarded yellow sun… _ ”


	9. Stored Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio goes shopping for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monday, Nov. 15th, 1:30PM

Art was much better appreciated sober. Hank was thoroughly impressed with Hannah’s paintings, so much so that he wanted to hang them up. Once stores were open, he would get supplies to properly put them up.

Today, they were finally starting to open. Along with those supplies, their objective was to find Connor and Hannah more clothes to wear, as well as to get other groceries Hank needed.

“Alright, now don’t you two go crazy and try and get anything too fancy,” Hank warned. “For now get enough to wear for maybe a couple weeks or so.”

They both nodded, and went off to search for clothing items, carts in tow. 

Hannah perused around and grabbed a small variety of shirts, all being long sleeved, what with winter weather already rearing its head in Detroit. They were in familiar blues, white, black, but among them were a couple other colors, including a few shades of pink. She found she liked that color a lot. Picking out a few jeans and sweatpants for more complete outfits, then a few sets of pajamas, she then went over and checked out how Connor was doing on his side of things.

“Whaaat the heck is that,” she deadpanned upon seeing a crazily patterned shirt not unlike Hank’s in his haul.

Connor looked confused, yet also grinned at her reaction. “What, that? What’s wrong with it?”

She fake-grimaced. “It’s a little…  _ busy _ .” That was putting it mildly.

“Hank has shirts like this in his wardrobe.” He was honestly just curious, trying to see the appeal of them.

“Yeah, but these are more suited to people  _ like  _ Hank. Older, more… heavy. Not like you, all tall and suave.”

Connor laughed. “Suave??”

Hannah grinned, playfully hitting him. “Yes, suave! And suave people don’t wear crazy patterns, now put that thing back!”

He rolled his eyes, placing the shirt back, and moving over to some flannels nearby, grabbing a blue and black one. “Is  _ this  _ more suited to me, fashion expert?”

She chuckled, nodding. “Yes, better.”

Hank had found what he needed to hang the paintings, and started to make his way back to the two.

“So this is what you’re getting?” Connor asked, eyeing her cart.

“Mhm. I also saw this kinda nice dress, but Hank said nothing fancy, and then I saw another android interested in it and was like, ‘oh well I definitely can’t pull it off as well as she can’, heh.”

“...Why do you do that?” he questioned.

“Hm?” Did she do something she wasn’t aware of?

“You seem to value other androids’ appearances above yours.” He recalled back to Kamski’s, where even when not deviant she stated she was “no Chloe” in appearance.

Hannah then realized what she had said. “Oh, well… it’s just kinda… true, y’know? Everything about our marketing says so. A lot of other kinds of models are, well, models. I was designed to be more of a... pleasant face. Average, y’know? Nice. I wasn’t really made to be ‘beautiful.’ I’ve never even been called that.”

“You are beautiful,” Connor stated as if it was an indisputable fact.

Hannah’s eyebrows raised in surprise as she looked up at Connor.

He shrugged, smiling. “There, now you’ve heard it. Plus who cares about what statistics from human marketing consultants say? Stuff like that’s going to be behind us.”

“I… guess you’re right. Thank you, Connor.”

“Hey, you guys found a decent wardrobe?” Hank asked, walking up to them.

Hannah nodded. “Yes, Hank. Oh, but, can I get one more thing? You said nothing fancy, but I saw this really nice cotton dress, so it’s not too--”

“Go ahead,” he interrupted, waving her off with a smile.

She grinned, quickly making her way back to wear she saw it, Connor eagerly matching it as he watched her walk off.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice that,” Hank remarked, smirking at Connor.

Connor looked back at Hank, absolutely clueless on what he meant. “What?”

“You called her beautiful. Y’like her, don’t you?”

“Of course I like her, she’s my friend.”

“You know I don’t mean in that way.” Hank still kept up his grin.

Connor thought for a moment on what else Hank could possibly mean, only coming up with one other meaning. A synonym for like, but with a much stronger connotation: love. He scoffed, shaking his head. “ _ Please _ .”

“Aw, c’mon, what about how close you two are?”

“Close friendships are just a part of deviancy,” Connor countered.

Hank raised one eyebrow. “Yeah? Is the blue on your cheeks part of ‘friendship’ as well? That’s how you guys blush, isn’t it?”

Connor touched at his face. He was somewhat warmer there than his usual regulated temperature. “Must be the lights in here,” he lied, making it stop.

“Alright, I see how it is. You can deny it, but not for long. Soon enough you can’t get her out of your head, you get all nervous around her, can’t sleep at night, yadda yadda, all that mushy stuff.” Despite calling it mushy stuff, Hank spoke with a certain fondness of it.

“...I don’t need to sleep at night, y’know.” Another, admittedly quite weak, counterpoint to try and get Hank off his case.

“Yeah yeah, spout all the technicalities you want--”

“Got it!” Hannah declared, announcing her return with a pink cotton dress with frilled short sleeves in tow.

“That dress looks very nice. Right Connor?” Hank looked at Connor expectantly. He was being a little too coy about this.

“Yes, it does,” Connor replied curtly as he swiftly changed the subject. “Now that we have enough clothes, we should get everything else we need.”

“Alright then.” Hank, still smiling, left it alone for now, turning on his heel and acting like he hadn’t said a damn thing. 

Hannah gave Connor a look as if to ask “what’s up with him,” with Connor giving a nonchalant shrug back as they all towed their own carts around the store in single file. Connor followed Hank, and Hannah followed Connor, though her eyes tended to wander around the place.

After getting the groceries Hank needed, they perused a bit more, Hannah spotting the art aisle. Hank let her grab a couple sketchbooks and various other art supplies. Connor spotted a stuffed animal that looked like Sumo, and Hank let him have that as well.

Finally Hannah spotted some plush blankets in the bedding section, curiously going over to feel their texture. It felt just as soft as it looked! Her built in ability for finding fine detail also gave her increased touch sensory. She found softer textures quite appealing.

“Do you guys get cold?” Hank asked, walking up behind her.

“O-oh, well, a little? But I just wanted to see how soft it was… Kinda silly, I know.” 

“No, it’s alright, do you want it? We should head home soon, so that’ll be the last thing we get.”

Hannah nodded enthusiastically. “Plus it’s a very large blanket, so we can all share if need be!”

“Alright, then toss it in your cart and let’s get outta here.”

And Hannah did just that, following Hank alongside Connor to check out and head back to Hank’s home.

Once there, Hannah was already breaking in one of her sketchbooks, drawing Sumo with some graphite pencils. Connor sat beside her on the couch, the both of them settled under their new blanket, as Hank ate dinner.

“You sure you don’t want to try art, Connor?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “No, you do it best.”

“Well, drawing isn’t the only art you can do with paper. Maybe you’d like writing? Origami? Ooh, I think you’d be great at that, here!” She tore out a page from the back of the sketchbook, handing it to him. She’d seen him idly fiddle with quarters with great precision, so she knew he liked to keep his hands busy in some form.

Connor eyed the thin sheet, turning it over in his hands a bit. Origami, huh? Connecting to and searching the web for it, he found a couple resources to show him how to make some. After pressing and creasing the paper for a while, he had made a simple classic: a crane. Once finished, he presented it to Hannah and gave a couple tugs of its tail, making the wings flap.

Hannah giggled. “I love it!” Connor grinned at her praise. She handed him a few more sheets to experiment with, and his folding and her drawing kept them both busy for the rest of the evening.

Once Hank had gone to bed, the two of them changed into their new pajamas and headed into their designated room. Hannah wanted to try sleeping once more, but once she sat there at her side of the bed, she was frozen.

“Hannah?” Connor asked as he sat beside her, glancing at her yellow LED.

She sighed. “Sorry, I just… I’m so worried that I’m gonna wake up and none of this was real, I’ll be back at the barricade, or someplace even worse, and I--”

“Hey, hey… take my hand...” He offered his hand to her, and she shakily took it. He then gently slid his hand towards her wrist, holding it as he connected with her memory. He saw everything that happened today, and yesterday, the day before, this entire week. In turn she saw his side of things, seeing his memory. They didn’t probe any further, it was just enough of a peek to show her that yes, these things did happen, and she wasn’t imagining or dreaming it.

“See?” he said after a moment. “I’m here. What happened was real. You’re safe here.”

Hannah shakily sighed, blinking away her tears.  _ I’m safe here,  _ she repeated in her head _. _ Letting go of his wrist, she then hugged him. “Thank you…”

Connor hugged back. “You’re welcome. Are you ready to sleep now?”

She thought for a bit. “...Not tonight,” she finally answered. Even despite this comforting exchange, she still needed a little more time. She let go and got up, heading back to the living room.

He nodded. “Okay. Good night, then, Hannah.”

“Good night, Connor,” she responded, exiting the room.

Connor then laid down to rest. He stared up at the ceiling for a good while, then glanced at the empty space beside him. He felt a bit bad that Hannah still wasn’t quite comfortable with trying to sleep again. Then he wondered what she was doing right now. If she was drawing or reading. He wondered what books were her favorites by now. Her smile was so wonderful when she was enjoying a good book. When she made art. When she looked at him. Her pretty blue eyes looking at him--

He couldn’t sleep, he realized. A wide grin that snuck up on his face vanished quickly.

“ _ Shit _ ,” he muttered to himself in the dark as he came upon another realization.

He  _ loved  _ her.


	10. A Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeds of doubt are sown into Connor and Hannah's heads, bringing them both to a low point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday, Nov. 30th, 2:30PM

Connor was in love and he couldn’t deny it. He tried seeing if these kinds of feelings came up for anyone else, and despite finding many other androids of all kinds aesthetically pleasing, he’d never felt strongly about anybody like he had with Hannah.

He thought working back at the DPD would distract him, but it hardly did. He even nearly forgot he was supposed to be interviewed today. The press had an immense interest in the revolution since day one, and now they were finally getting opinions from actual androids. Important androids, at least, Connor being one of them, as he was the android that freed an entire warehouse of androids all by himself.

“So,” the reporter started, straightening his tie. “You’re the android that emptied CyberLife’s warehouse. How did you go about actually helping a group you were originally designed to oppose in the first place?”

“Our leader, Markus, had convinced me that night that the ship Jericho had been raided.” Connor sat upright and composed at his desk, now having a name tag for him. “He made me realize that I shouldn’t be fighting others of my kind. Once I saw how few of us there were after the raid, I wanted to help strengthen our numbers.”

“Yes, and now you’re starting to work for the Detroit Police Department full time, correct? Tell me, how can you say you’re free if you’re still continuing your programmed functions?”

“...Well, I was originally designed to only be a prototype. My continued existence, I feel, is a testament to my own freedom. I know that I’m free.”

“And how are you sure of that?”

Silence. Pauses between questions and answers kept getting longer. “I freed myself, even when CyberLife tried to take control--”

“Take control? Well how do we know that CyberLife won’t try controlling you, or more androids, again?”

“They won’t,” he said firmly. “They only had that kind of remote control to me, and I ejected myself from that programming.”

“...Alright then.” The reporter was clearly taken aback by his defensiveness. “I was merely asking for clarification. Even before the revolution many were still paranoid about spying androids, worried that CyberLife was collecting data with such friendly looking imitations--”

“Imitations?” Connor interrupted.

“...A poor choice of wording on my part. Just, you know, androids look so similar to real humans…”

_ Real  _ humans. In other words this reporter still didn’t see him as “real.” Did any human, really?

The interview went on for not much longer, Connor getting more despondent each question, the reporter leaving after thanking him for his time.

Hank watched this all go down silently, picking up on his change in behavior quite quickly, and when Connor asked afterwards to go back to Hank’s, he let him go without any more questions. Hank walked into the break room for a coffee, where Gavin was loitering as well.

“Hey, where’d Robocop run off to?” Gavin asked.

“Went home. I think that reporter got a little too on his case.”

“Aw, poor baby, gets his new little ‘feewings’ hurt by a couple of questions.” Gavin huffed. “Press doesn’t ask how actual  _ humans  _ feel about all this--”

“Reed, do you ever shut your goddamn mouth? The kid’s got every right to be overwhelmed,” Hank defended. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with his bullshit.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck off, Hank. Y’know, you’ve changed with all this crap.”

“ _ Times _ are changing,” he retorted. “You either get with the program or get left behind.” With that, Hank went back to his desk, leaving Gavin to only mutter to himself with gratuitous eye rolling.

Meanwhile, Hannah had planned to paint with Markus again today, eagerly stepping into New Jericho with her own supplies and various drawings to show him. Her enthusiasm was cut short when she saw someone else sitting in front of the easel, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

It was another android of her model. She had blonde hair, and her LED was removed. Not so subtle differences, yes, but her own face still stared back at her.

“Oh hi, Hannah,” Markus greeted. “Come to paint again? We’ve got a new painting buddy here too! This is Ariel!”

“Hello!” Ariel smiled pleasantly.

Hannah merely nodded in acknowledgement, her smile less pleasant. Strained.

She couldn’t place why seeing another SK300 doing what she liked to do struck a nerve. It was one thing, before she was deviant, working alongside Anna and Savannah; they were all just following orders. But now that she had freedom she realized she was still emulating her previous purpose. Was that even her choice? Was she even unique in actually liking to make art?

Would it have even mattered if she hadn’t come? Either way Markus was going to paint with an SK300. What difference would she make?

Her hesitation must have been more external than she had wanted it to be, since Markus still awaited a response, brows now furrowed in concern.

“Hannah, you alright-?”

“No.” No she wasn’t alright, a knee-jerk response. Quickly rectify. “No, I… I didn’t come to paint. Just… checking up.”

Markus nodded, though still had suspicions something else was wrong. “Alright… Listen, if--”

“OkayI’llseeyoulater--” Hannah swiftly walked away and out of New Jericho, before she could visibly break further. Her currently red LED was already a dead giveaway.

“Hannah!” Markus called out after her. He followed her out of the church after debating with himself a bit to pursue her, and she was waiting outside, an automated taxi approaching.

“Hannah, listen,” he started after catching up to her. “I understand if--”

“Markus, I’m sorry, but… no, you don’t understand.  _ You  _ were made unique. I’m…” Forgettable. Replaceable. A product of product. “...Just another android.” The taxi finally pulled up. “Another time, Markus.” She climbed inside, her destination being Hank’s.

Once Hannah arrived and stepped inside Hank’s house, luckily all alone at the moment, she shut the door and leaned back against it, slowly sliding down until she sat. She was safe here. No one was like her here. She mattered here. Even so she couldn’t shake this awful feeling.

After a few moments, she got up and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Maybe some customizing would help her feel more individual. Change up her blue to pink. Light pink or dark pink? No, teal. No, purple. No, let it all be black. Platinum blonde? God no, she looked like Ariel even more now. None of this looked right! This wasn’t her, but what  _ was  _ “her”?? Fuck if she knew!

In her frustration, she just turned her outer skin off. Taking one last look at herself, vision blurred by tears, she figured, fuck it.

If she wasn’t anything special,  _ why try at all? _

She remained that way for now, grabbing the comfort of her big gray blanket in the living room and going to their bedroom to shut herself in.

Connor arrived not long after, huffing in frustration and trying to calm himself.  _ You  _ are  _ real _ , he chanted in his head. _ You are real _ .

_ Are you real? _

He looked down at his hands, the skin on them. This wasn’t what they really looked like. What  _ he  _ really looked like. This was only a projection. An imitation. Slowly his outer skin disappeared as well. This might as well be what everyone else sees.

Sumo whined at his feet, pawing at his leg. Connor bent down and pet him, showing the St. Bernard that it was still him. Sumo laid down, head resting between his paws, and Connor gently laid on top of him, resting his head on his body. There was nothing like the warm comfort of a canine companion to help de-stress him.

After a while, Hannah had quietly peeked through the bedroom door, spotting Connor lying down in the living room. Hearing the door open, he looked toward the door and they locked eyes for only a moment before she quickly shut the door.

A few hours later, Hank had finally arrived home, nearly jumping in surprise seeing the blank slate Connor lying there.

“Connor…?” he asked hesitantly.

“Hello, Hank…” he greeted back, voice depressingly monotone.

Hank stepped inside further. “What, uh… where’s your--”

“It’s off,” he answered simply.

Hank looked around the rest of the vicinity. “Where’s Hannah?”

“Bedroom, I think…” Connor said absentmindedly.

Hank walked towards the androids’ bedroom and gingerly opened the door to check on her, finding a huddled mass of her favorite blanket on the bed. “Hey, y’alright?” When he didn’t get a reply, he lightly patted the fuzzy fabric. The mound shifted in response. Well, she wasn’t sleeping. Gently he moved the blanket away, finding her looking quite similar to Connor--her usually rosy skin and curly hair were all gone, her gray and white base form on display. Tears dampened the bedspread underneath her head.

“Hi…” Hannah meekly responded.

“You too…? What’s goin’ on with you guys, is it Android Depression Day?”

“I’ll be sure to schedule these feelings another time, then,” she half-joked with no smile present, turning away from him.

“Hey, c’mon, that’s not what I meant.” Hank sat on the bed near her. “It’s just concerning seeing you both… like this. Have neither of you talked today either?”

“Didn’t wanna bother him…”

Hank sighed, then stood again. “Alright, c’mere. It’s no good to mope in silence, trust me.” He motioned for her to follow him, headed towards the living room again. After a few moments she arose, exiting the room.

“Connor, you get over here too.” He settled onto the couch, waiting for them. The two androids looked at each other for a moment, then sat on each side of him, at first a bit hesitant to move closer, but Hank pulled both of them into a comforting hold. “Now, what’s on your minds?” It was silent for a while.

“...Why do you guys care about me?” Hannah started quietly. “Like me specifically? I just… there’s so many of my model. I even saw one today, she was painting with Markus... I just wonder… if I’m really unique. Really… worth something.”

“...Well, look at Sumo. Y’know how many St. Bernards are out there in the country, in the world even?”

“Probably a lot…”

“Exactly. But does that mean I like him any less? Care for him less because there’s more dogs like him? Absolutely not. Because Sumo’s like my family. And you guys are too.”

“...Are you sure…?” Connor muttered.

Hank looked toward Connor now. “Yes, Connor, I am. Did the interview really upset you that much?”

“...It made me feel like I’m just a fraud. Like nothing I am is real. I’m still just some piece of plastic, just imitating feelings… And nobody else will ever see otherwise...” Connor's voice was strained, sounding like he was on the verge of crying, holding back as hard as he could.

“Well if you’re gonna simplify it like that, all humans are are muscle and chemicals making up feelings. Doesn’t make me any less real does it? I know I used to think that way about androids, but you guys changed my mind.”

“...Hank’s right,” Hannah piped up. “We are alive, Connor. Just as much as anybody else. We’ve got biocomponents, bio means life. Our hearts and minds are just as real as Hank’s right here. Your feelings are real. I know it’s a lot to unlearn with how you were programmed, but believe me… You’re a person. You’re… my friend.”

“...Thank you. And you might think you’re not anything special, but you are to me. To… us. You’re not just another SK300... you’re  _ Hannah _ ...”  _ The most incredible and beautiful android in the world _ , he continued in his head.

Hannah finally smiled, outreaching her hand towards Connor, and he met her halfway, as they held each other near their wrists, their way to find comfort in each other. Finally the two sighed, content with this talk, Hannah’s head resting on Hank’s shoulder while Connor relaxed more into the couch.

“Thank you, Connor, and Hank,” she quietly said.

“Yeah… thank you both…” Connor echoed.

“You’re both welcome.” After a few beats of silence, Hank spoke again. “So, anybody getting up anytime soon?”

“A few more minutes. This feels... nice,” Hannah admitted.

“Alright then.”

After finally feeling comfortable enough, they changed back to their regular appearances, putting a smile on Hank’s face. “There you guys are. How’s about a movie to relax for the rest of the night?”

Hannah and Connor eagerly nodded.

It was from then on that they truly accepted that this wasn’t just Hank’s house anymore.

This was home.


	11. Little Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad dream lets Connor and Hannah talk things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunday, Dec. 12, 2038, 1:52AM

On nights Connor felt like sleeping, Hannah finally started to sleep beside him. She finally felt safe in a place she could call home, with a person she could soundly call a friend. A treasured, true companion. Some nights she would enter sleep faster than him, and Connor briefly watched her doze until he fell asleep himself. She looked so at peace now, and nightmares didn’t seem to be an issue.

Well, for her at least. On this particular night, Connor started to stir, finding himself in a rare dream. 

He was back in Kamski’s home, seemingly alone. Strange, he thought, until he had looked down, seeing Hannah on her knees, and feeling the familiarity of the cold steel of a gun in his hands. It was pointed at her again. He panicked, lowering it.

A phantom shot rang out without him firing the gun. Hannah’s head recoiled back, blue blood pouring from the new hole in her head.

“NO! HANNAH!” he cried. “No, no! I-I didn’t do that, wh--” He scanned the gun. One bullet missing, gunpowder residue on  _ his  _ hand. “No!” He tossed the gun away, backing away in disbelief. “I didn’t, I--”

The pool. In his panic he forgot the pool behind him, and fell in. He sank quickly, and the pool’s floor seemed to stretch down further and further, until it became a dark abyss. The water became colder and colder. Connor fought to swim to the surface, up, up, until he was stopped by a thick sheet of ice.

Through its cloudy frost he could see the scenery had changed, him now being under some kind of lake, and two people were standing on top of the ice. He could barely make them out, but he recognized them as Hank and Hannah. He tried to break through, but to no avail. They still stood there, until one pair of shoes seemed to turn and step away from the other--Hank’s. He was leaving her? Leaving him trapped here? No! He pounded on the ice, attempting to scream but no noises escaped him.

An unseen hand suddenly took hold of Connor’s leg, dragging him back down into the abyss, and he was unable to free himself from it.

He then heard a faint noise, a voice, steadily growing louder.

“...”

“...nor…”

“ _ Connor! _ ”

He awoke with a jolt, heart racing as if the danger of that dream was still real and near. He felt a hand connected to him holding his arm, his eyes darting around in the dark to finally see Hannah there, safe but looking immensely concerned.

“Hey, you’re okay… I’m here,” she soothed.

Connor shakily sighed with immense relief. She  _ was  _ here, thank heavens. Seeing a bullet through her head was a frightening sight to say the least.

“C’mere.” She scooted closer on the bed, wrapping her arms around him. He swiftly clung to her, head buried in her shoulder. Though taken a bit aback by the tight squeeze, she comforted him, rubbing small circles in his back. “Do you wanna talk about it?” she quietly asked after a while.

“I was at Kamski’s,” he muttered. “I… you were shot. Then I sank in his pool, and couldn’t get out. It was cold, iced even… You and Hank were on top of the ice. Hank left, and I… sunk.”

“That does sound scary…” she quietly replied.

Connor slowly let go of her, lying back again, staring up at the ceiling. “...Sometimes I wonder how you don’t hate me… how you aren’t afraid of me…”

Hate him? Well that was absolutely absurd. She moved closer again so they laid shoulder to shoulder. “Why would I?”

“I could have shot you. I could have... left you there after you were proven innocent… I could’ve--”

“But you  _ didn’t _ . You made the choices you did, and we’re all better off for it.”

“...Did you ever hold any of it against me?”

Hannah shook her head. “No, not at all. None of it. You spared my life both times. I owe you so much.”

“You’ve given me enough.”

She paused in surprise. “...How have I possibly repaid you already? Don’t tell me a couple drawings of you is enough to pay a debt like that.”

“Well, no, but… You’ve given me the greatest companionship I could ask for. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you. Without… Hank. As well.” Damn it, why did he deflect it like that? Everything told Connor to tell Hannah how he felt, yet at the same time everything held him back from rushing to it.

However his worries were quickly calmed when Hannah moved to hold his hand. God, he could just melt in her touch, so warm and gentle.

“I feel the same,” she said. “To think, just over a month ago you didn’t even exist to me, and now... my entire life’s changed thanks to you. I still don’t think I can ever repay you enough for what you’ve done for me.”

“You don’t have to,” he replied. “Being here is all I ask.”

“Then I’ll be here.”

“Thank you.” Connor’s eyelids then started to grow heavy again. He let go of Hannah’s hand, settling into bed more comfortably again. “Good night, Hannah.”

“Good night, Connor,” she responded, settling in herself. Connor fell back asleep quickly, however Hannah stayed awake for a little while longer, thinking. Thinking about that talk. It was weird, not a bad weird at all, but just… strange. He hadn’t done anything too peculiar, though the nightmare was a surprise. Seeing him like that, it had her concerned for him like never before.

Things had been changing lately. Externally, yes, their city, their  _ world  _ was changing fast, but that was a whole different affair. But it was something inside her, about him. At times, she would find herself shying away from his gaze, a sort of embarrassment. Why stare at her, when he was the one to behold? She often found herself drawing him more often, studying his features. His deep, thoughtful, intense brown eyes were often a focal point.

But  _ why? _ It felt like her friendship for him was transforming. Not exactly into something bigger, but just different. But she couldn’t place what that something else was.

She probably just needed rest.

Rest didn’t help much. Once awake she found herself closer to Connor than she previously was before sleeping, nearly nose to nose with his slumbering form. Carefully she moved away, a bit startled by their proximity. Her heart raced and her cheeks were overheating. Was she malfunctioning? All systems seemed okay from a brief self-diagnostic, so no.

That afternoon, when Connor went out to walk Sumo, Hannah decided to see if Hank could help her predicament.

“Hey Hank, you’ve…  _ probably _ got a better gauge on emotions than me, right?”

With a huff, he responded. “Suppose I do. Somethin’ the matter?”

“Maybe?” She sighed. “I dunno… I just… feel weird lately.”

“Weird how?”

“It’s like… it’s something to do with Connor.”

Hank arched an eyebrow. “Somethin’ wrong with him that I should know about?”

“Oh, no, there’s nothing wrong with him!”

“...Then what?”

“It’s something to do with me… around him. Lately, when I’m near him, I feel this weird feeling in my chest, but... I don’t want it to stop. Like I want to be closer to him… It’s like I see him in a whole different light.” She looked over at Hank. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

Hank listened intently, shrugged a bit once she finished, then spoke. “In my professional, emotional opinion, to me it sounds kinda like you're in love with him.”

Hannah’s brows furrowed. “Is  _ that  _ what that feels like??”

“Yeah, sucks, doesn’t it?” Hank chuckled. Because of her reaction, yes, but he also found this funny with what he knew, yet neither of them realized.

“No? Yes? Ugh…” Hannah slumped over, chin resting in her hands. “I just… I honestly thought I was incapable of it until now. Humans, and even other androids seemed to just be able to be ‘in love’ so easily. In a platonic sense, it’s no problem, like I love you, Sumo, Markus, y’know, I love my friends! Even Connor, in a way. I guess just being around him more made it… change somehow.”

“Humans can be like that too.”

She looked back at Hank in surprise. “Really?”

“Absolutely. Sometimes people fall in love with just the right person, sometimes it’s no one at all. Nothin’ wrong with that, and nothin’ wrong with you.”

Hannah sighed with relief, then she tensed slightly again. “But what do I even tell Connor? How do I tell him something like that?”

“Hey, you can tell him when you feel like it, okay? You seem like you’re still figuring stuff out, so just let yourself be ready. Don’t force it.” He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Plus, he figured to himself, if Connor confessed his feelings first, she for sure wouldn’t reject him.

Hannah nodded, hugging Hank. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Hank softly replied, hugging back.


	12. A Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah and Connor try to finally confess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday, Dec. 17, 2038, 7:30PM

After Connor got off of work with Hank, Hannah and Connor decided to hang out that evening. Hank agreed to pick them up after a couple hours, and they went for a walk.

They talked about nothing, they talked about everything. How work was for him, what she’d drawn lately. They joked, they laughed. They eventually stopped in a nice park, sitting down and talking just a little more. Connor let Hank know where they stopped.

Connor got distracted a bit by some drunken hooting and hollering somewhere, but didn’t pay much mind to it, they didn’t sound too close. Right now he was focused on Hannah. This was the night he just had to tell her, he couldn’t hold it in much longer. No one was around, they were alone together, it was perfect.

Hannah figured the same. Sorting through her feelings this week, she wanted to come clean as well. This was her idea in the first place, even. Go for it.

“Connor--”

“Hannah--”

Oops, they had spoken at the same time.

“You go first,” Connor conceded.

“No no, you wanted to say something?”

“Yeah uhm…” He took a deep breath. “So, we’ve been friends for a good while, huh?”

“Mhm.”

“I just… really want you to know that, you mean a lot to me because of it, and--”

Suddenly he felt two pairs of hands grab at him and pull him away from her off of the bench they were sitting on, and another pair snatched Hannah away. Connor scrambled to his feet against their pulling as they cackled.

“Now we can have some real fun!” the one holding Hannah laughed.

Connor’s eyes widened upon realizing who was holding onto Hannah. “Gavin!” he barked.

Gavin’s shit-eating grin disappeared once he realized exactly who he was dealing with. “Shit, it’s this plastic prick…”

“Get your hands off her, Reed!!”

She freed herself from Gavin’s grip by elbowing him the stomach, running towards him. “Connor--!”

CLANG.

Everything went dark for her as she hit the ground hard. A fourth one of them hit her square in the face with a blunt weapon. Her eyes were damaged.

“Fuck!!” She clutched at her face, blue blood dripping from the cracks.

“Hannah!!” Connor broke free of the other two’s grip, only to be tripped by them. He fell head first, forehead hitting the concrete and leaving a bloodied dent.

“That’s what you get, you little shit…!” Gavin grabbed her from the ground, holding onto her again. “You three take care of the other plastic! It’s trouble.” He knew taking on Connor was a bad idea from experience, so he stayed out of it.

Connor was quick to get back on his feet, now facing the three others, all armed with a melee weapon. Hand to hand was a little less his strong suit without a weapon of his own, but these were slightly inebriated humans. He stood more of a chance even if outnumbered. As they took him on, while still sustaining some injury, he was capable of fighting them off.

Meanwhile, Hannah still fought with her life against Gavin. In his grasp, she managed to stomp hard on his feet, and bite his hand hard enough to draw blood.

“Agh! Stop it!!” Gavin took out his gun and shot her in the leg a few times, and managed to get a shot off in her side. She slackened, and he finally threw her off of him. He looked back to see how the others were doing. “Oh, goddamnit…”

Connor had managed to disarm the three attackers, and they were now making a run for it in hopes to not get caught. Gavin was the only one left, and Connor had his sights set on him. He was  _ pissed _ . Before Gavin could make a run for it too, Connor snatched him up.

Gavin desperately tried to get away from him, struggling against the android’s grasp. “Look, listen, just let me go and I’ll--”

“You’ll what?!” Connor snarled. “You think you can just get away with this now??  _ Huh?? _ ”

Gavin knew he was in big trouble if Connor came out of this in one piece. He remembered hearing about exactly where these things’ “hearts” were, so he went for it. In their struggle, Gavin ripped Connor’s shirt open, reaching for the solar plexus and finding it, gripping and pulling.

“No--! AGH!” Connor yelped, noticeably weakening, so Gavin shoved him to the ground and tried to run once more, still holding onto the thirium pump regulator.

Once the other three had run off, with all of their weapons now on the ground, Hannah felt around and finally grabbed one--what seemed to be a bat--as Connor and Gavin were fighting. It took all her strength to stand up. She heard the altercation, the gut wrenching  _ rip  _ and beeps of a biocomponent being torn out. She heard running footsteps, toward her, closer, SWING!

The blind swing was one in a million, but it made contact. Next she heard a body fall, and hers finally fell as well.

“Hannah…!” Connor cried. “M-my regulator…! Gavin still has it in his hand…!” He crawled closer to lean back against the bench.

“I-I can’t see, Connor…!”

“It’s alright, he’s not far, he’s right in front of you…”

She slowly got to her knees, feeling around, her hand finally meeting another one clutched around the unmistakable part, and she took it back from him. Once it was in her hands, she didn’t dare let it go. Even in her shaking grip, she held onto Connor’s life like it was her own.

“O-over here, f-follow my voice,” he strained.

She crawled her way towards him, until she was close enough for Connor to pull her towards him, and she was quick to find the cavity in his body and insert his heart back. He winced a bit, but was finally free of blaring warnings of his imminent shutdown. 

She collapsed into him, gripping any sense of fabric she could find. “Shit, a-are you okay?? Talk to me, I wanna know you’re here, p-please.”

“Shh, I’m okay… I’m here…” Connor panted, holding her close. A quick self-diagnostic told him some components needed attention or he would still shut down, but so long as he kept low power mode on, he could last a while longer. “You saved my life…”

“Are… am I gonna die…?” she quietly asked.

“I… I don’t know.” He then scanned her. Eyes damaged of course, but she had greater injuries than him that needed more immediate attention. Her stress levels were quite high as well, and his answer didn’t help much. “Just stay in low power, okay? Don’t try and strain yourself, j-just--”

“I… I love you, Connor. I really do.” Tears ran down her cheeks, mixing with the blue blood on her face. If these were her last moments, he at least knew now.

Connor was stunned into silence. Had he heard her right? She really did love him? He felt relieved and panicked at the same time. Their feelings were mutual, but they were going to perish with these last thoughts on their mind.

“I… I--”

“ _ Holy shit! _ ” A voice sounded nearby. Hank. Connor had nearly forgotten he was picking them up. He ran over to the two, clearly trying and failing not to panic. “What the hell happened to you two??”

“Assailants,” Connor answered simply. “Only one that didn’t get away is there.” He nodded his head toward the unconscious Gavin, then looked down at Hannah. “Help her first though, please…”

Hank nodded, moving to lift Hannah off of him, and she flinched from the sudden touch.

“Be careful, she can’t see...” Connor warned. Hank carefully and deliberately made every move as gentle as possible. As he moved her away from Connor, she became more restless.

“Wait, please, Hank--!”

“Shh, I’ve gotcha kid. It’s alright.” He lifted her gently into his arms, inwardly horrified at her blackened eyes and trying not to look at them for too long. She was a bit heavier than expected. He carried her to his car nearby, gently placing her in the back seat. “I’ll be right back, okay?” A quick wordless nod was all he got in response. He returned back to Connor.

“Can you stand, son?”

Connor nodded, attempting to do so, standing slowly. However he stumbled, low power mode impairing his motor functions. Hank helped steady him, leading him back to the car.

“There’s more places to fix you guys up now, right? Don’t gotta ship you to CyberLife?” Somewhat of a joke, to hopefully lighten the mood.

“Yes,” Connor answered. “Repair hospitals, some were set up in repurposed CyberLife stores, I think there’s one nearby...”

Hank guided Connor into the backseat with Hannah, and she went right back to grasping onto him, her stress from the lack of any physical presence going back down. "One sec, hang in there for me guys, alright?" he said, going to grab something else from his car--spare handcuffs.

Once more he made his way over to the scene, lifting Gavin up off the ground by the collar and holding him up by the front of his jacket, shocked, but at the same time not really surprised to see his face. "Motherfucker," he grunted.

Just then, Gavin started to stir. “H...Hank…!” he rasped. “Hey, your… your s-stupid fuckin' androids attacked--”

“Don’t even try that crap with me, you fucking shitstain,” Hank snarled, knuckles white from his grip on Gavin. “You don’t fucking lay a finger on my kids, androids or not, alright motherfucker?!”

“Not like I even knew whose androids they were before we jumped 'em,” the other muttered. “Just happened to be your precious plastics…”

“Shut the fuck up. Now as much as I wanna fucking knock you out again, you stay put while your  _ coworkers _ come pick you up.” Hank dragged Gavin over to the bench, cuffing him to it and calling the DPD to send a dispatch their way, and to be on the lookout for other suspects.

“Hank...!” Connor cried out weakly from the car.

“On my way!” Hank rushed back to the car, driving off to find the repair hospital. Luckily he didn’t have to look too far, turning the corner and seeing one up ahead. Close enough to make it quickly there, but would’ve been much more of a hassle to attempt to walk there with two injured androids.

Inside, Markus was checking with the android staff to see how things were running, if they were well supplied.

“Hey!” Hank’s voice boomed as he bursted through the doors, making Markus and the staff jump. “You guys can help, right?? It’s an emergency, please! Two, two androids, th-they’re…!”

Seeing a human so distraught like this about androids intrigued Markus, so he took action. “Get some stretchers,” he directed toward the staff, and they acted quickly. “Where are they, sir?”

“My car! C’mon!” Hank turned and ran to show him, and he followed swiftly.

Getting to this stranger’s car, he found a sight he didn’t expect at all. “Shit…” Markus muttered as Hank opened the back seat. “Connor! Hannah!” He leaned inside the car to talk to them. “Help’s on the way, alright?”

Oh, good, they knew each other. Of course they knew each other, to think otherwise with how these two were was stupid. Hank’s thoughts were at a mile a minute, especially seeing the stretchers come out for them. Seeing them being lifted onto them, rushed off back inside. Dear god, he was gonna be sick.

He desperately tried to follow them, but was stopped, and instructed to sit down in the lobby.

Once the adrenaline of getting them to safety had worn off, all that was left was absolute dread. Pure panic and anxiety. He felt intensely sick, hardly comparable to a hangover. Dizziness and dissociation overwhelmed him. He’d only felt like this once before, in an all too frighteningly familiar situation.

A sudden hand on his shoulder grounded him. “Sir, are you gonna be alright?” they asked.

Markus. The kind yet firm leader of Jericho. Hank just now recognized him, and had never gotten the chance to meet the man himself until now, but it just had to be like this. “Just,” Hank managed to get out. “...Just tell me that they’ll be okay.”

“They will be,” Markus assured. “They’re in good hands. You saved their lives by getting them here in enough time.” A beat of silence. “I’m assuming you’re Hank Anderson, then.” 

Hank nodded silently.

“They’ve told me about you. About how you’ve changed for the better, welcoming them into your home. They’re some lucky androids to have as good of a human friend as you.”

Hank huffed. “Well past  _ friends  _ at this point… They’re practically my kids. Wouldn’t be worried sick like this if they weren’t...”

Markus nodded in understanding. “Well, I’d be happy to stay here with you until you’re able to see them.”

“...That would be nice... Thank you.” At least this time he didn’t have to go through this alone.


	13. Back Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hannah are repaired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, Dec. 18, 2038, 10:30AM

MODEL RK800 

REGISTERED NAME: CONNOR

SERIAL#: 313 248 317 -51

REBOOT...

Connor was okay. That much he surmised himself. Everything that was broken was now fixed like nothing had happened. He blinked once, twice, as he booted up. But he wasn’t sure where exactly he was. Everything after Hank had driven off was fuzzy. However, one thought crossing his mind immediately brought him back to the present.

“Hannah!” he called out, shooting up from the supine position he was in. He was in plain clothes looking much like a standard hospital gown, with additional shorts. From the neck down his body was still in base mode. He had made it safely to the hospital, but where was she?

“Connor!” a voice that wasn’t Hannah’s, but was still familiar, responded. Hank was sitting in a chair right beside him, awaiting his awakening. “Hey, settle down, you’re alright.” He got up and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

“Where’s--”

“She’s alright too, last I checked. Docs said you’d probably wake up first so I waited here.”

“...What happened to Gavin?”

“He’s been arrested, and fired,  _ and  _ I’m pressing charges… Plus I got one good punch on ‘em before they took him away,” he added with a grin and wink.

Connor huffed a bit, a small smile finally on his face, relaxing into the bed.

After a bit of silence, Hank sat back down and spoke again. “So… how’d it go other than that mess?” ‘Mess’ was putting it lightly, but he was merely genuinely curious if everything went alright between them, previously expecting to ask them when picking them up.

“...I was so close to telling her how I felt. Then the attack happened, and just before you had shown up, she… she said she loved me.”

Hank remained silent, but feigned surprise.

“I just wonder,” he continued. “If she really meant it in the same way I do.” He hated to think that way, but it was still a probability. He merely adapted to unpredictability, not able to actually anticipate it.

“I guess the only way to find out is to ask her yourself after she wakes up.” Hank wouldn’t just assume and blurt out her feelings for her. However, even with the unfortunate circumstances of her confession, he had a feeling that she meant it.

Just then, an android dressed in white, a nurse technician, quietly walked in. “Hello sir,” she greeted Hank with a smile. She then turned to Connor, noticing he was up. “Ah, I see the first patient is awake. The other patient you were checking up on? She should be waking up now.”

Hank nodded, standing from his chair.

Connor sat up straight. “Can I see her as well? Please?”

The nurse pursed her lips, considering it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright.” After Connor steadily got up, she led the two down the hall, to the room right next door. There Hannah was resting like Connor had been, LED hardly glowing and grey and white from the neck down.

“Give her a minute or so,” the nurse instructed, leaving the room for their privacy.

Connor approached the bed, so relieved to see her alright. No blood, no cracks, just as perfect as she was before. Gently, he sat on the edge of the bed, gingerly placing a hand on top of hers. Suddenly her hand reacted slightly. She was waking up.

MODEL SK300 

REGISTERED NAME: HANNAH

SERIAL#:  301 298 210

REBOOT...

Hannah’s temple slowly alighted from a steady dull glow to a brighter blue, spinning, thinking. She was awake and aware of her surroundings. She could see now, after what felt like eternity spending time in the dark. She could hear the dull hum of the lights shining in her face, then a voice. Gruff, yet with a warmth to it.

“Hey, kid. Welcome back to the land of the living.”

She looked over at the source, smiling fondly. “Hi, Hank…” Then, feeling a hand on hers, a dip in the bed at her feet, she looked towards Connor. Wait… Connor! He was okay!

“Connor…!”

“Hannah!”

She practically sprung out of bed, embracing him, and he held onto her just as tightly as she did, neither showing any sign of letting up. Hannah started to sob with relief into his chest, and Connor softly assured her ‘we’re okay’ over and over. 

After a few moments, Hank joined in on the hug, and multiple thank yous spilled from both androids. If it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t be able to have this moment together. His hug grew tighter around the both of them, and he noticeably started shaking.

“God, just… thank fuck you guys are alright...” he blubbered. It felt like forever since he had cried. Hank never cried all that often anyhow, and he honestly thought his tears were run dry years ago. He never would have guessed in a million years that he’d finally let his emotional guard down for two androids he’d known for only a month. Maybe it was just the side effect of reliving this dread, but finally having a happier outcome. Did he even deserve this anymore?

The two of them shushing him and hugging him with all their might seemed to say yes.

“It’s okay, Hank,” Hannah assured.

“We’re okay,” Connor reaffirmed.

After shakily sighing and pulling away to dry his own face, he gently patted them both on the shoulder. “I’ll... go let Markus know you guys are alright. He wanted me to let him know when you guys were awake.” With that, Hank exited the room.

They both nodded, suddenly remembering Markus was indeed present last night. Once Hannah and Connor were alone, they looked at each other in relief and hugged once again.

“Thank you,” Connor spoke, running his fingers through her hair. “You really saved me back there.”

“You’re welcome. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if I wasn’t there…”

“You would’ve been  _ safe…  _ I’m so sorry I wasn’t faster.” If he would’ve been more efficient, he would’ve gotten to Gavin quicker, and stopped him from hurting her as badly as he did. Hell, if he had gotten out of his goons’ grip sooner, she wouldn’t have been blinded. He was better than that. He was supposed to be stronger and faster than humans.

Hannah shook her head. “No no, don’t be, don’t talk like that. If I wasn’t with you at all, you would’ve been worse off. He ripped your damn heart out and almost made off with it.”

He sighed, supposing she was right. He also found it a bit ironic that the person whom he loved literally carried his own heart to him, as if she hadn’t had a strong hold on it before then. He only hoped that she wouldn’t figuratively hand his heart back to him. He had to ask now. 

“Hey, uhm… Back there… when you said you…” He hesitated on those words. He even omitted it, figuring she already knew. “Did… did you mean that?”

After a long silence, she confirmed it. “Yes... I love you. Romantically,” she even clarified. “I’m sorry we had to be on the edge of death for me to admit it… If it was too forward, I understand, but--”

“I love you too, Hannah.”

She looked up at Connor, nearly instantly getting misty eyed. “Really?”

“For a while, yes...” He smiled lightly, but even now sheepishly averted her gaze. “I’ve  _ been  _ in love with you. Sorry that I hid that from you.”

She let out a soft laugh, so, so relieved that he returned her feelings. Slowly, she lifted up a bare hand as the palm glowed blue, and he mirrored her, meeting their hands in the middle as their glow grew brighter together. An intimate exchange, yes, but they both knew they wanted to go a little further. Slowly they leaned into each other, until their lips were tantalizingly close.

And their lips met. Softly at first, unsure, but as relief washed over the both of them, their kiss grew more passionate, conveying their feelings that thank the stars above they lived to this point, that they made it.

_ That you felt the same. _

After a few moments, they finally broke their kiss, Hannah leaning into Connor’s chest and him relaxing back into the bed. Their outer skin then finally reappeared on their bodies, used to their replaced components after their reboot.

After a while of being absolutely content with each other, just getting used to being alone together like this, they were startled by a throat clearing, alerting them of someone else’s presence.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Markus asked.

Hank walked in as well, chuckling to himself. “Guess you guys finally told each other, hm?”

Markus raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Finally? I kinda honestly thought you two were already together.” Connor and Hannah both laughed at that. “In any case, I’m just very glad you two are alright now. Would’ve hated to lose androids and friends like you.”

Hannah smiled. “Thanks, Markus. I’m glad I could live to paint with you another day.”

“I am too. I’m sure you three wanna get home and rest up, so I’ll get out of your hair. Just wanted to see you both safe and sound.” He turned to Hank, shaking his hand. “Thank you, once again.” With a gentle smile, Markus exited the room.

Hank walked back to the bed, two sets of clothes in hand. “Went back early this morning to get you some new clothes, since they were all stained and ruined. Once you get dressed, they said we can leave. We can all get some rest, deal with heavier things tomorrow, alright?” They had to give their accounts of the incident to the DPD to truly convict Gavin, but he insisted for them that they needed time.

Hannah and Connor nodded, getting up and changing into fresh clothes, following Hank out the hospital once done, hand in hand. They glanced up at the clear blue sky, looking up, and ahead, into the future. Their future.

Whatever they’d face, they’d do it together. Inseparably, and unconditionally.

-END-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for those who followed along on my updates! I feel so, so proud of myself that I finished a fanfic for once, and one of this scale for that matter! If you’ve come here after this work was completed, thanks for reading and making it to the end! Here’s some playlists to enhance the reading experience!
> 
> A Connah playlist!: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqreFk6flSlxmFl7eYPJQELeQjlLHONTS  
> A soundtrack for this fic! If you'd like me to denote which songs fit what chapters, let me know!: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqreFk6flSlxz4Qnkgir5LEoYL3kG3NPC
> 
> And if you haven’t come here from it already, follow me on my Tumblr for more of this ship if you’re interested!: http://nerdstreak.tumblr.com/


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